Countdown To Zero
by shadrougeforever
Summary: While Shadow tries to redeem himself with his friends and The Council, a new and powerful demon by the name of Infinite is out to target him for reasons unknown. Meanwhile Sally seeks closure with Shadow making Rouge wanting to question his loyalty to her and their marriage. ShadowxRouge SonicxSally ShadowxSally SonicxRouge InfinitexRouge *Rating May Change* CHAP 8 UP
1. Execution?

**CHAPTER 1**

It was complete darkness and the only thing that could be heard was terrified voices of others talking and shouting.

"What do you think you're doing?" A familiar male voice shouted.

"You can't do this!" Another had shouted out also sounding quite familiar.

"This isn't fair!" That voice. It sounded like it could have been Espio's.

Rouge let out a tired and groggy moan as she slowly opened her eyes only to find herself in a wide and well lit room that looked like it resembled some sort of courtroom with a large staircase leading up to the top floor. She found it difficult to move as she was on her knees and her wrists were restrained behind her with what it felt like handcuffs. In front of her, she caught sight of a yellow fox woman sitting behind a large brown desk that resembled the type of desk a judge would sit behind. She recognized the fox woman right off the bat. It was none other than Mayor Sarah Wish. While she wondered why she was present, she continued to scan around the strange room and spotted the leaders and captains of the rest of The Council standing around her. Even the entire Chaotix team were gathered together. Seeing The Chaotix detectives was both relieving yet alarming especially when they all had horrific looks on their faces. Her heart raced inside her chest when she also caught sight of a few G.U.N. soldiers pacing around the room. The last thing she could remember was confronting a couple of military soldiers outside of her home. After that, everything was a blur. The more she observed her team members worried looks, the more she wanted to go into panic. She started to attempt to break out of the handcuffs that were around her wrists. "...What? What is this? What's going on?"

"Rouge?"

She gasped as she heard the familiar voice call out to her. She turned and saw a black and red male hedgehog setting next to her with him in the same position as her.

Despite him being in the situation they were both in, he seemed relieved to see her. "You're awake."

"Shadow?" Her eyes glanced up at the male yellow lion who stood next to Shadow while holding a large axe down beside him. The closer she looked at him, the more she was beginning to recall her last previous moments before ending up at the strange place. Right before she fell unconscious, she caught sight of two figures wearing black tactical uniforms but one familiar lion had stood out. He was none other than Trevor Grey. Commander of the G.U.N. military. He was the one who attacked her and Shadow. But why was the question? "Trevor? What's going on?"

Trevor looked down at her ready to respond until Shadow had spoken first. "It appears we've been unwillingly summoned to a trial", he spoke while giving Sarah a serious look from afar.

"...A trial? What?" Before she could ask anymore questions, the yellow fox woman had spoken loud enough to silence everyone in the room.

"Silence! Now that we're all here, we can start the trial for Shadow The Hedgehog and Rouge The Bat who both affiliated themselves with The Dark Alliance."

Nicole nervously clasped her hands together and spoke quietly over to Luke who stood next to her, "This isn't good..." It was a nerve wrecking feeling for her and she was sure for others as well to be assembled together for something so serious.

"Tell me about it", Luke replied back to her in a whisper.

With an excited look on his face, Rick rubbed his hands together as he impatiently waited for the trial to officially begin. "Heh, this is gonna be good!"

With Trevor standing near him and Rouge with a dangerously sharp axe in his hands and the entire Council with all team members gathered in one place, it was a given that this would all turn into a life or death situation. He had to admit. He saw this coming but before he or Rouge could confront Sarah or The Council peacefully, they decided to take matters into their hands the hard way apparently. "Sarah, let me explain..."

"You will be silent until you are given the right to speak!" Sarah demanded.

After Sarah angrily shouted towards him, he figured it would be best to be quiet and answer her questions when she wanted him to. One wrong word could be the end for both him and Rouge.

Espio took a small step forward and held his hands out while he looked up towards Sarah. "Sarah, you're going about this all wrong here! Shadow and Rouge are fine now. Just look at them!"

Sarah turned to the purple chameleon with a look that completely brushed away his words. She angrily pointed towards him, "And you! All of you! Your entire team disobeyed my orders! You took matters into your own hands and pursued them without informing me or the rest of The Council! I should disapline you and your entire team for your treason!" Her eyes had then angrily flashed over to Luke, "That goes for you too, Luke! If you know what's best for all of you then you will all remain silent!"

With a deep gulp, Espio slowly stepped back and realized from that point on, what he wanted to say wouldn't matter. If he hadn't went under her orders, maybe she would've been more open towards him. He still didn't know how Sarah ended up finding out about their own personal mission to go confront Shadow and Rouge. One part of him wanted to think Luke had spoken something about it. However that wouldn't be possible with him knowing what consequences would happen if Sarah learned of his involvement with the mission. All and all it didn't really matter in the end. He screwed himself and now he had to stand back and hope that Sarah would have mercy on them.

Sarah had glanced down at some papers and then looked over to Rouge. "Rouge The Bat, Weapon Specialist of The Chaotix Detective Agency, you were captured by a member of The Dark Alliance and was involuntarily turned into a demon am I correct?"

Though Rouge had little to no memory of her time of being a demon, she was determined to answer all of Sarah's questions to the best of her ability. "Um, yes."

"And while you were in that state, you confronted The Chaotix team's leader also known as your husband, Shadow The Hedgehog. You reactivated his demonic powers by forcing him to drink your own demonic blood?"

Though she wasn't filled in on what all completely happened, Shadow did tell her that The Dark Alliance used her to restore his demonic powers. "...Well that's what I've been told. I was apparently under some sort of mind control so I honestly can't remember what all I did after I was turned."

Sarah placed a finger to her chin as she heard Rouge confirm her question. "I see." She had then turned to Shadow, "You Shadow, were still aware of your words and actions while being overshadowed by Darkness. Am I correct?"

He made a small nod, "Yes..." Every time his demonic counterpart took control of his body, he would still be aware of what was going on during the time. He hated remembering all of the things Darkness made him do. At that point, he had wished he had no memory of what had happened either.

"Then tell us. What all actions did Rouge perform while she was turned?"

He bit his lip as he hesitated. He glanced back at the worried bat woman who was beside him and then back at Sarah. He knew he had to tell what all had happened. However it wasn't easy to just come out and say it. "...Do I really have to..."

She made a nod with a bitter look on her face. "Yes you are on trial may I remind you. You lie about anything and it will be your head."

His eyes shifted over to Trevor who closely stood next to him while making sure he presented the sharp blade of the axe front and center with him. With him reassuring that he would carry out his threat once he was ordered to, Shadow found out he really didn't have a choice. He turned back to Sarah, "...She killed people...we both did. We killed innocent lives and attacked our teammates. We attacked everyone..."

Sarah leaned her back against the chair she sat in while she continued to listen to Shadow.

He didn't want to make Rouge look like a monster. After all it wasn't all her fault. "But please. Rouge...she had no control of her actions. She was forced to do all of those things."

"But you..." Sarah spoke while she slightly rubbed her chin. "You knew what was going on. Didn't you?"

"Y-yes...but Darkness...his will was so overpowering. I couldn't fight it. I couldn't fight him." His eyes traveled down to the floor in both remorse and guilt. There was no other time in his entire life that he truly felt utterly weak. He was beginning to wonder if it was even possible to ever fight Darkness' control over him.

Sarah made a disappointed and heavy sigh as her eyes slowly shifted away from him, "That's what I was afraid you'd say..." Her eyes had then looked down at the papers on her desk, "Shadow The Hedgehog and Rouge The Bat...for affiliating yourselves with The Dark Alliance and the murders of these known victims...Carrie Summers, Vincent Ray, Mike Burnside, Kelsey Fields..."

The more of the victim's names she read, the more both Shadow and Rouge felt guilty. It was sickening to hear all of the names of the people they had apparently killed. And the worse part of it all, they were just people they confirmed that were killed by them. Those weren't even all of the victims and Shadow even knew that. All of those people. Innocent people. Their eyes fell heavy on the floor as they couldn't look at anyone in the room.

After reading all of the names of the victims, Sarah looked away from the papers and looked back at them. "And for also threatening and attacking The Council, I sentence you both to an immediate execution."

After giving out her sentence to them both, horrified gasps and comments filled the entire room.

Sarah locked her cold eyes onto both Shadow and Rouge, "Death by decapitation."

Tonya wanted to think that this all couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. "Miss Wish! No!"

Espio thought there was something they could do to stop this all from happening. There had to be. "Sarah! Are you crazy?"

"You can't do this to them!" Luke shouted angrily.

While holding Spike in her arms, Tikal was sure to present Spike towards Sarah. "But you can't kill them! What about their son? You expect him to grow up in a world without both his parents?" She had hoped that Sarah would lift the punishment for their son's sake.

Sarah's eyes fell onto the sight of the content baby hedgehog smiling at her without a care in the world and with him completely not knowing what was going on. She didn't want to do it but she had to put her personal feelings aside and do what was best for everyone. Even if it meant taking the baby hedgehog's parents away from him. "I feel for the child. I really do but I can't take anymore chances." She took her clenched fist and slammed it down onto the surface of the desk. "I won't have this Council let alone the entire world become threatened by these demons any longer."

Shadow's heart raced when he looked over to see Trevor step over to Rouge. When Rouge realized that he was going to kill her first, she turned to Shadow with tears swelling in her eyes.

"...Shadow?" She spoke in a frightened and cracked tone before Trevor forcefully pushed her head down to the floor and held the blade of the axe near her neck.

Once he saw the terrified look in her eyes, he didn't want her to suffer the same fate as him. He thought if anyone should die, it would be him. It wouldn't be right to take her life away especially when she couldn't even remember the things she had done. "No..." He quickly turned back to Sarah, "Wait a minute, Sarah!"

Sarah slowly shook her head as she tried to keep a focused look on her face. This was the first time she had to make a decision like this and it was challenging for her but she did this because she thought this had to be done. "I can't lose anymore of my people to you. I just can't..."

"Sarah!" Shadow shouted in a panicked voice. "Sarah, no! It's not her fault! She couldn't control her actions! Hell she can't even remember what she did!" As he spoke out, it appeared that none of this words were getting through to her but he was determined to keep trying. Especially when he saw Trevor starting to raise the axe above her. "Look at her! Look at her eyes damn it! She's not a demon!" He had then saw her glancing over to look at Rouge's aqua and tear filled eyes. "She's nothing like me! Please!" He begged in a desperate tone, "Don't kill her! It's me! It's me you want dead! Kill me instead damn it! Just kill me!"

When Sarah looked back over to him, she could see his tears streaming down his face. He loved her. He really loved her and he wanted her to continue living her life and raising their son. She made a slight sigh as she began to question was it really necessary to kill both of them? All demons and apparently half demons had red eyes. Rouge's eyes were still aqua green. He was right. Rouge wasn't a demon. Especially when the biggest threat was only Shadow himself. She quickly held her hand up and out towards Trevor signaling him to pause from his actions. "Wait. Due to her being unaware of her actions, I will spare your wife's life."

After she made her announcement, Trevor took the blade of the axe away from Rouge's neck and stepped away from her.

Two G.U.N. soldiers approached her and picked her body off from the floor and released her wrists from the handcuffs that were restraining her.

A relieved look appeared on Shadow's face as he saw her being released and pulled over to the side with the rest of the group. He couldn't be anymore happy that he convinced Sarah to refrain from killing his wife. His ears twitched as he heard Sarah's cruel tone of voice speaking out to him.

"But you..." She spoke while pointing towards him. "We will deal with you another way..."

Tikal's legs shook nervously as she held Spike closer to her. She watched as Nails placed a hand on her shoulder and gently rubbing it to try to calm her down. "I don't think my heart can take all of this suspense", she whispered over to her lover.

"Hey they released Rouge. Shadow will be okay too. You'll see", Nails whispered back to her in a hopeful tone.

Sarah rested her elbows on the surface of the desk while she looked towards Shadow. "I say the leaders will do a vote on whether you live or die."

After hearing that, Espio glanced at Leon, Amethyst and Sally who all had looks on their faces that appeared that they wanted Shadow dead. Even with Luke's vote on not killing him, it would still be three against one. "Oh shit..." he swore harshly under his breath.

Tonya turned to Espio with a worried look on her face after hearing him swearing under his breath. "You can't say anything?" She asked in a whisper.

The chameleon sighed heavily in frustration, "I'm afraid not. This just turned into a leaders only thing. Other than Luke being on our side, it looks like Shadow doesn't have a chance."

Tonya placed her finger gently to her lips, "Oh no..."

While Freya stood quietly next to the rest of the worried group of Chaotix detectives, her eyes wandered over to the leaders of the other teams who all seemed to give the hedgehog hateful glares. She then looked back to Shadow who seemed that he had given up hope on trying to fight for his life. She slowly clenched her fists that was hanging next to her waist and gave him the same cold glare from where she was standing.

Sarah had then looked over to the male brown lion who stood closely next to his second in command none other than Rick. "Leon of The Crimson Blade. Your vote?"

The lion glanced over to Rick who had his arms crossed and gave him a slight nod with an evil smirk. He turned away from him and looked back at Sarah with a hand in the pocket of his pants. "He's a demon and a menace just as the rest of them. Kill him."

After hearing his vote, Sarah turned to the black male jackal with his second in command Dave standing next to him. "Luke from The Black Shield. Your vote?"

The male blue skunk looked over to Luke as he began to speak out towards her.

"I know Shadow and he would never harm or kill anyone. He loves his family and his team dearly. The man who we all saw kill all those people and attack us, that wasn't him. Spare him."

Even when Espio already knew that he could rely on Luke, it was still refreshing to hear such positive words towards Shadow pass through another Council member's lips.

After hearing Luke's vote, Sarah turned to the pink female lynx who stood next to the white rabbit woman who was her second in command. "Amethyst from The Radiant Guard. Your vote?"

The pink lynx woman made a saddened look as her eyes slowly shifted away from Sarah's. She nervously rubbed her hands together. She hated nothing more than to see another Council member on the verge of death by just simple words. She was never the type of person to be for violence but this was all for a different matter and she had to put her feelings about it behind her for once. "I didn't want to believe it, but yes Shadow can be a danger to us and our society and I'm not willing to take that risk again. Kill him..."

Espio's eyes slowly wandered down to the floor as he feared this would be the result of everyone's vote. Only one more vote would end up saving Shadow or either sealing his fate. He and the rest of the room had then had all their eyes set on the brown chipmunk woman standing silently next to her second in command.

While biting her bottom lip in worry, Nicole turned her attention to her leader who had a cold and unreadable expression on her face. She remembered how Sally came back from her mission from Acorn Kingdom and annouced to her and the rest of her team that her and Shadow had called a truce with each other and they declared themselves friends. However she didn't know if she felt that way now especially witnessing what had just happened.

Sarah looked over to Sally, "Sally Acorn from The Royal Guardians. Your vote?"

And at that moment, the entire room had their attention fall on her. Back in Acorn Kingdom, she stood in front of large crowds on a regular to announce royal declarations but this was something entirely different. This was it. Right then her vote would decide if Shadow were to live or die. Though she was nervous wreck from the inside, she tried to conceal her emotions.

Appex saw the cold expression Sally was giving off and leaned over to Espio to whisper to him. "Everything's going to be fine right? She and Shadow are supposed to be cool now. Right?"

Espio slightly shook his head and whispered back over to him. "While he was Darkness, Sonic said something about him attacking her so I don't know..." He remembered when Sonic confronted him and accused Shadow of possibly raping her. He himself wasn't sure of what the real story was. But whatever he had done to her, it didn't look like Sally carelessly brushed it off.

Appex remembered that Sonic had came and talked to Espio about something. Shadow had attacked Sally? What did he exactly do? Wouldn't she had said something to The Council about it by now? And most importantly, why was she being so quiet about it? "What?"

When Sally saw Shadow raising his head from the floor and making eye contact with her, her heart sank. Just like that instant flashbacks between her and Shadow had flooded her mind. From when they first met and completely hated each other, to them finally talking about their feelings and becoming friends leading up to the mistake of her looking at him more than just a friend. Even when he had confronted her about them being strictly just friends, she always buried a hidden lust for him. And with his demonic couterpart tricking her to sleep with him, her feelings for him have never been more out of place. The way he kissed her, the way he pleasured her, how good he made her feel at that moment. But it wasn't him. It wasn't his actions. It wasn't his feelings. He was merely a puppet of that moment. Like her, he was just being used. And it made her feel dirty and vile for the things they both had done together. She didn't know if she could live with that kind of guilt especially with him still being in the picture. She gulped and clenched both of her fists tightly as she found it difficult to look away from him.

Rick noticed her hesitation and couldn't understand why. After all she like him had hated Shadow so much up to point where they both wanted to kill him. He gritted his teeth and glared over at her. "What the hell are you waiting for, Sally! Vote already! Have them kill this piece of shit!"

Sarah's eyes flashed over to the grey hyena, "Silence, Rick!" She had then looked back over to Sally and had to admit that she was running out of patience herself. However like Rick, she couldn't understand why Sally was so hesitant. Did she perhaps have some sort of soft spot for him? "Sally? Your vote now please."

With everyone getting impatient, she couldn't bring herself to say her vote. While she slowly unclenched her fists, she turned away from the black and red hedgehog and sadly closed her eyes. She slightly shook her head as a silent vote.

When Sarah saw her shaking her head, she took her reaction as a vote to kill him. "Very well..."

Tikal noticed everyone's worried looks and had feared the worst was happening. "Wait...what's...what's happening?" She had then heard Freya's low voice speaking while she stood next to her.

"Shadow is finally going to die..."

When Tikal turned to Freya, she saw nothing but a cold and hateful look on her face while she stared at Shadow. "Huh?"

"Good riddance..." She muttered in a hateful tone under her breath.

Tikal knew that Freya had developed a new hate towards Shadow but her words still sent her into shock. After all Freya at one point had looked up to Shadow. It was actually pretty horrifying to see her like this.

Just when she heard Sarah's final verdict, more tears swelled in Rouge's eyes. Her tears streamed down her face as she saw Trevor stepping closer to Shadow while holding the giant axe tightly in his hands. She couldn't believe it. This was actually happening. Shadow was actually going to die. "No..." she softly sobbed. "Shadow...Shadow!" Before she could run over to him, she was held back by the two G.U.N. soldiers that stood close to her.

Shadow slowly looked up at the male yellow lion when he heard him speaking out to him.

"I'm sorry, Shadow. I really don't want to do this..."

As he looked at him, he could tell that he didn't want this to happen either. But due to it being his job, he truly had no right to stop this. At this point, it was better off to give up and let everything happen. "It's okay, Trevor. It's okay..."

Rouge sobbed and screamed loudly while she was still being restrained by the two soldiers. "Shadow!"

Shadow looked over to Rouge who had tears streaming down her face. As much as he hated seeing her like this, it was all for the best. She was safe and it was all that mattered to him. "I love you, Rouge. Take care of Spike."

With her face drenched in tears, she couldn't believe that this was the end. She didn't want to face it but it was reality.

Shadow had then looked over to Espio who looked like he was on the edge of tears. "Espio, take care of everyone. Take care of my family."

After hearing him say that, he couldn't fight back his tears any longer. A tear had slowly streamed down his face as he realized that he was going to lose the person he had been close with for years. His best friend that was practically a brother to him. "Shadow..."

While everyone else seemed to have depressing and silent looks on their faces, Rick's loud and thrilled voice could be heard throughout the room. "Yes! Finally! Kill that demon scum once and for all!"

"I'll never forget what all you've done for me and G.U.N. Thank you and goodbye..." Trevor slowly raised the sharp blade of the axe in the air and had it aimed for the back of his neck while Shadow had looked down to the floor.

While Shadow held his head down towards the floor, he shut his eyes tightly and awaited for his fate to be sealed. He had then heard a woman's voice yelling within the silent room.

"Stop!"

With him suddenly hearing the loud yelling, Trevor swung the axe down slightly to the right just enough to miss slicing Shadow's head clear off. He recognized the voice and looked over to the brown chipmunk woman.

Sarah turned to Sally who was stepping forward towards Trevor and Shadow. "Sally? What is the meaning of..."

"Don't do it!" She shouted while she stopped in her tracks and turned to the confused fox woman. "Don't kill him!"

Shadow slowly looked away from the floor and turned to Sally as well. He had wondered why she suddenly had stopped the execution.

Sarah arched an eyebrow towards her in confusion, "He deserves this, Sally! You know that!"

Sally made a slow nod towards her, "I know. He's done things. Horrible things but Luke is right. The man who threatened us and attacked us. It wasn't Shadow." She had then looked back over to Shadow, "Shadow is the most kindest and purest of us all. He saved this city countless times. He even helped to restore and balance the G.U.N. military." She looked back at Sarah, "He's been there for you, for The Council, hell without him my kingdom would've been destroyed. We all would not be where we are today without him. The world needs him. The world needs Shadow The Hedgehog."

After Sally's words, Sarah and the rest of The Council members began to overthink their thoughts about Shadow.

While everyone was murmuring and talking amongst themselves Shadow locked his eyes with Sally and saw her having a small yet warm smile on her face. He didn't know what was going on. He just knew she had hated him for what he had done and to her. Why was she suddenly on his side?

Sarah looked over at Shadow and made a small nod, "Very well. Shadow The Hedgehog, your life has been spared."

With a sniffle, a happy and relived look formed on Rouge's face. "Thank God!"

While everyone had relieved looks on their faces, Rick had an angered expression on his face. "What!"

Sarah continued to speak, "Instead you will be suspended of your duties on The Council and acting out as leader of The Chaotix until further notice."

Ker had figured since that was Shadow's punishment, it wasn't as horrible as he thought it was going to be. "That's not so bad", he spoke lowly to himself.

Sarah continued announcing her verdict, "And you will be sentenced fourteen days in the G.U.N. maximum security prison."

Ker had then placed a finger to his bottom lip as he had gotten nervous all over again. "Oh..."

When Trevor lowered the axe and eased his grip on it, he leaned over to Shadow to whisper to him. "It's okay. You got this."

Shadow made a small nod in return until he and everyone else heard Rick's angry shouting above them all.

"No! No! No!" Rick shouted as he angry stepped forward. "What the hell are you all doing? Did you forget what all he did? He killed innocent people! He deserves to suffer the same fate! He's a monster!"

Sarah coldly turned to the angered hyena. "Rick!" She then saw him angrily storming over to Trevor to snatch the axe out of his hands and shove him to the side.

Rick clenched the giant axe tightly in his hands as he angrily looked down at Shadow. "Pathetic! If no one is going to kill this bastard, then I will do it myself!"

Leon's eyes widened as he saw Rick holding the blade of the axe up and aiming it at the back of Shadow's neck. "Rick, stop!" He knew having Shadow's life sparred was going to upset him but he didn't expect him to react like this.

Sarah quickly stood from her chair as she saw him about to swing the axe down at Shadow. "Rick! If you swing that axe at that hedgehog so help me God!"

Before Rick had the chance to swing the axe down at Shadow, Trevor had grabbed and snatched the axe away from him. "What!" He angrily glared towards the lion.

"That's enough, Rick!"

Before he could do or say anything else, he was suddenly pulled away from him by two G.U.N. soldiers.

Rick struggled to get out of the soldiers' grip around him, "No! You don't understand! Let me go! He needs to die! Shadow The Hedgehog needs to die!"

While the two soldiers restrained Rick, Trevor turned back to Shadow and helped him to his feet, "Come on. Let's get you out of here..." He was sure Rick would be the only one to lash out at Shadow but he didn't know who else would attempt to try to kill him.

When Rouge saw Trevor about to escort Shadow out of the room, she ran over to him and hugged his body tightly. "Shadow!" She placed her hands on the sides of his face and looked up at him with tears swelling in her eyes. "You're okay! Oh God! They almost killed you!"

"As long as you're safe, I don't care what happens to me." Before he could lean in to kiss her, he felt Trevor tugging on his arm.

"Come on, Shadow. We have to go."

Her hands slipped away from him as Trevor pulled him away from her. Shadow's life had been sparred but now they were both going to be apart from each other. "I love you, Shadow", she sniffed with tears once again running down her face.

He turned to her one final time before he was rushed out of the room by Trevor. "I love you too, hun. Don't worry. I'll be okay."

Even with him trying to assure her that he would be okay serving out his sentence, she was still heartbroken that he had been torn away from her when she had needed him with her the most.

**Author's Note: It's finally here! The sequel to Demon Wars is a go! Now I know from the summary, this story's going to be one hell of a cluster and may confuse new readers about what's going on. But to sum it up a little better. This story will tell of Shadow and Rouge's emotional struggles from the damage they have done to not only their friends and comrades but to themselves as well. Also new villains will be introduced *coughInfinitecough* And perhaps some questions will finally get answered. Will Shadow and Sally's secret finally get out? If so how will this effect Rouge and Sonic? Stay tuned! New updates are in the works! By the way the rating on this story could change at anytime. I don't know for how long this will stay a T rated story. I'm so used to writing M rated stories. lol but anyway I hope you guys will enjoy this story and I will see you all on the flipside!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Risa: Is your mom okay?**

**Freya: She wouldn't be like this if it weren't for him...**

**Leon: What the hell is wrong with you?**

**Rick: Idiots! He should've been killed!**

**Tonya: Rouge?**

**Rouge: I miss him so much...**


	2. Reality?

**CHAPTER 2**

A few days had passed after everyone had witnessed the intense trial that took place and everyone was still pretty shaken up from it. It was later in the morning and Risa had decided to come over to Freya's house to check up on her and her mother. Just yesterday, the hospital finally approved Joyce's release and she was now home with Freya. Risa was sitting with Freya on the comfortable gray sofa within the living room. The two were sitting side by side drinking mugs of coffee with each other.

Risa took a sip of coffee from the white mug she had held in her hands before she spoke out to Freya. "It's so good to see you and your mom both at home and doing better."

Freya made a small while her eyes shifted down at the white mug she had held in her hands that was still pretty full of coffee. "Yeah", she replied in a bland tone. "I guess..."

Risa could tell just from the tone of her voice that something was clearly on her mind. She didn't want her to talk about it if she didn't want to, but she had already had an idea on what was going through her mind. "I remember when I came to visit you guys when everything had first happened. God it was awful." She suddenly found it hard to look at Freya shifted her eyes away from her as she began to remember seeing Freya and Joyce both laying in hospital beds and practically wrapped with gauze from head to toe. With how they both looked, it appeared that they were both on the verge of death. "I've never seen you two like that before." She had then looked back towards her, "I was so worried about you guys. I thought you would both..."

She looked away from the white mug she held in her hands and looked back over to Risa. "No way. I mean it was rough but we're okay. Everything's fine."

She once again heard the bitter and depressing tone in her voice and was clear that she was still bothered with everything that had happened. "...Is it though? Is everything fine?"

After hearing the repetitive question she placed her hand on the side of her forehead and rubbed it as she sighed heavily. She then took her hand away from her forehead and shook her head slowly towards her. "No...it's not..."

"Freya", she spoke in a low and worried tone. "He put you and your mother in the hospital. Hell, he would've killed you both if it weren't for Midnight rushing in at the last minute."

She bit her lip and shifted her eyes away from her as flashbacks from that horrible night flooded her mind. She slightly gripped her hand around the white mug she held while she stared down at it. She made a slow nod, "I know..."

An angry look had then formed on her face, "And The Council...God what were they thinking? Two weeks in prison? What is that anyway?" She scoffed under her breath and crossed her arms, "If you ask me, they should've gave him the death penalty."

She looked away from the mug and turned back to her, "But they didn't..."

Risa rose an eyebrow towards her, "And you're thrilled about that?"

Before Freya could speak again, she and Risa had then heard footsteps coming from down the stairs. She turned and saw Joyce coming down the stairs and stepping in the living room with a bright and warm smile on her face. "Hey, mom."

"Good morning, sweetie!" Joyce saw how quiet it had gotten between the two of them and figured she interrupted an important conversation. She placed her hand to her mouth gently, "Oh! Sorry! I hope I didn't interrupt!"

"No you're cool." Freya observed her mother's facial expression and it had been the same way after she had woken up after being attacked by Shadow. She had been at Joyce's side almost every moment and not once has she seen her angry, saddened, or depressed. She had been smiley and radiant and acted as though they all lived in a perfect world. Her eyes caught sight of the gauze that was wrapped around her neck from where Shadow had bit her. Just staring at the bandage made her blood boil. She could only imagine what was actually going through her mind. She knew deep down that her mind was a shattered mess. Joyce adored Shadow and had always considered him apart of their small family. However all of that seemed like a fairy tale with her now knowing the deep dark truth about him.

Joyce continued to smile wide towards the two girls, "Oh that's good. Anyway I'm heading out to go to work."

Freya rose an eyebrow as she saw her starting to walk towards the door. "Work? But it's Sunday and you never work on Sundays."

Joyce stopped in her tracks and paused for a moment as she began to think. She placed her finger against the side of her cheek and lightly tapped it as she slightly looked up at the ceiling as she thought. "Hm...no? I think you have the days confused. It's Tuesday, sweetheart. I was just at work yesterday."

Freya made a long pause as she began to get concerned, "But you don't go back to work until Wednesday." She held out her hand in confusion, "You haven't worked since you were released from the hospital and uh yeah! That was yesterday?"

She again paused and placed her hand on the side of her face as it was all starting to come back to her. "...You know what? You're absolutely right. I guess it just slipped my mind."

After witnessing the strange conversation, Risa couldn't help but to turn to Freya with both a confused and a worried look.

After having such a strange conversation with her mom, Freya even worried for her. "Uh, mom? Are you feeling okay?"

Joyce made a nod with the same radiant and wide smile on her face, "Of course! Never better!" She had then slightly began to search around her dress as if she was looking for something. She was so focused looking for whatever she was looking for, she failed to remember that her dress didn't even have pockets. "I think I left my phone upstairs. I'll be back and start breakfast okay?"

With a disturbed look on her face, Freya just made a slow nod towards her, "...Okay, mom."

After Joyce had went back upstairs, Risa quickly spun back around to Freya looking for some kind of explanation from her. "...Freya?"

Freya sighed heavily and rubbed the side of her forehead as she looked down to the floor. She slowly shook her head, "She made breakfast three hours ago..."

"...What?" Risa rose an eyebrow in confusion, "Freya, what's going on?"

She looked away from the floor and turned back to her with a frustrated look on her face as she started to explain, "It's the medication she's on. It kind of makes her delusional."

"You mean crazy?" She corrected bitterly.

Deep down, Freya wanted to believe that it just wasn't the medication that was messing with her. It had to be multiple things that was apparently messing her mind. Either it was the concussion that she had got from when Shadow had knocked her unconscious or maybe she really had lost her mind after having him terrorize her. She gritted her teeth angrily, "She wouldn't be like this if it weren't for him..."

Risa slightly scoffed under her breath before taking another sip of her coffee, "I swear it just boggles me how he managed to slip the death penalty."

"Yeah", she spoke in an angry and low tone as she gripped her hands around the white mug tighter. "Me too..."

* * *

Leon sat behind his desk in his office and watched as Rick angrily pace around the office back and forth. He gave him an annoyed look as he watched him storm around the office. It had been a week since Shadow's sentence and Rick was still very upset by the outcome of the trial. "I wish you'd get a grip", he spoke bitterly.

After hearing Leon's comment, Rick froze in his tracks and turned to him with an unbelievable look on his face. He pointed to himself, "Me? Get a grip?"

He nodded angrily towards him, "Yes, you!" He held up his hand and pointed towards him, "Because of your actions, you embarrassed the hell out of me the other day!" He placed his hand on his forehead, "Being escorted out by G.U.N. soldiers! Really? That was not freakin' professional, Rick!"

"Sarah and Commander Grey are idiots!" With his fists clenched tightly, he stormed over to Leon's desk and slammed both his fists down onto the surface. "And apparently Sally too! What in the hell has gotten into her anyway? She hates that bloody hedgehog for God's sake!"

Leon crossed his arms and rose an eyebrow towards him, "Apparently she doesn't."

He angrily pushed himself away from the front of the desk and threw his hands in the air in frustration while he angrily scoffed, "They should've killed him when they had the chance!"

"But they didn't." Leon himself wasn't fond of the idea of having Shadow live but he stayed loyal and true to their justice system and was determined to do whatever decision was made. But he knew Rick on the other hand had absolutely despised Shadow and wanted him dead more than anyone else in the room of the trial.

"Yeah! I know!" Rick spun around to turn to him with his hands presented in the air, "And what did they do instead? Gave him a slap on the wrist and put him in a box for not even a month!" He formed a sarcastic smile on his lips and pointed towards Leon, "Oh yeah that'll show him to not kill again!"

Leon attempted to calm him down and try to reason with him but he knew he had better luck talking to a brick wall. "Rick, you have to trust their decisions and have faith in their system."

Rick arched an eyebrow towards him, "Trust them? Have faith? Didn't that almost get us all killed in the first place?"

He sighed heavily as he tried to think of more ways to settle him down. "Rick..."

"No! If we keep Shadow alive, more people will end up dying by his hands!" He turned and pointed towards him, "I'm right and you know I am!"

Leon sat there and gave him a disturbed look. He hated seeing Rick so angry like this. Sometimes his anger would get the best of him and it would not only effect him but the entire team as well. He had to admit, he was a good Captain but when it came to situations like this, his emotions left him vulnerable and his judgement couldn't be trusted.

"You'll see! You'll all see!" He had then angrily turned away from him and stormed out the office while slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

At Shadow and Rouge' house, Spike was sitting in a high chair at the kitchen table. He frowned while he watched Rouge hover a spoon full of baby food in front of him.

It had been almost the entire ten minutes and she could not get Spike to eat any of his food. He didn't eat anything since early in the morning and it was now going late into the evening. She knew he had to be hungry. "Come on, Spike", she spoke in a tired tone while she held the spoon full of food near his mouth. "Eat your food. Please? For me?"

The more he saw her hovering the spoon full of food near his mouth, the more he was determined to keep his mouth shut and back his head away from her.

After trying to get him to eat for the entire time, she finally began to think that it was best to just give up. She finally took the spoon full of food away from him and placed the spoon down into the small blue bowl that was on the surface of his high chair. She crossed her arms and scoffed under her breath. "Spike The Hedgehog, what is going on? Why are you acting this way?" Her eyes widened when she saw him beginning to throw a fit and shoved the small bowl of food off of the high chair and down on the floor. When she saw the food scattered all over the floor, she clenched her fists and angrily looked back at Spike. "For God's sake, Spike! What's gotten into you! That is not acceptable!"

When he heard his mother's tone of voice rise, he paused what he was doing and stared at her with his large aqua green eyes and had remained quiet.

It was no surprise to her that he had suddenly gotten quiet. Whenever her patience ran thin, her voice would escalate and somehow that would be the thing to make Spike forget about absolutely everything and just mindless stare at her until she was finished yelling. She angrily scoffed under her breath and turned around to grab a few paper towels from the counter behind her. Once she grabbed the paper towels, she kneeled down to the floor and began to clean up the spilled food that was on the floor angrily, "I wonder what's wrong with you?" As she continued to clean, a sudden saddened look had formed on her face, "Maybe you just miss your father..." She shook her head slowly and made a small yet sarcastic laugh under her breath, "Yeah right. He barely spent any time with you. How could you miss him?" She paused from cleaning the food and mindlessly stared at the spilled food as she began to go deep into thought, "It's kinda funny. He's never really here much anyway so with him being gone really isn't such a big deal." She slowly looked up at the ceiling, "I still wish he was here though..." Her ears perked up when she heard the doorbell suddenly ring. She snapped out of her thoughts and quickly cleaned up the mess from the floor. She stood from the floor and took the paper towels that was soaked in baby food and tossed them in the trash can near her. She had then made her way over to the door and answered it. Once she swung the door open, she saw a purple cat woman standing at the doorway. "Tonya?"

The cat woman greeted her with a wide and warm smile, "Hey, Rouge! Good evening! I hope I didn't come at a bad time. Can I come in?"

Tonya had been coming over regularly to simply keep her company. She figured she didn't want her home alone too often with her thoughts on what had happened. "Oh sure", she stepped to the side and allowed her to step inside of the kitchen.

She spun around to face her while Rouge shut the door behind her. "I hope everything's been going okay."

"Oh everything's fine", she spoke with a weak smile. She tried not to show that she was emotionally and physically stressed.

Tonya had then given her an unsure look when she heard the bitter tone in her voice, "...Are you sure?"

She bit her lip and had a saddened expression on her face as she fought with deciding to tell Tonya what exactly was on her mind or not. "Actually everything's not okay..."

Tonya gave her a sympathetic look as she was prepared to listen to what was on her mind.

"Oh Tonya, everything's been so strange without Shadow around. I know it's only been a short time but I miss him so much."

"Oh, Rouge", she spoke in a soft and comforting tone. She approached her and placed her hands on her shoulders to gently rub them. "It's totally okay to feel the way you do. Especially after what you both had to go through."

She slightly shook her head, "I thought I could do this but I can't. I need him here with me."

She could hear her voice cracking up and eyes beginning to swell in tears. "Hey don't stress yourself out, sweetie. Fourteen days? Time's flying by. One more week and he's out of there."

"But Espio did say they sent him to D Block. That's where they usually lock up and experiment on Almas. It's a special prison for demons." She slightly shook her head and looked away from her, "We're not allowed to see him or contact him either. God knows what kind of torture they're putting him through..."

She continued to gently rub her shoulders, "Hey come on. This is Trevor we're talking about here. He may be the head honcho of the facility but you gotta remember that he and Shad go way back. He's nothing like Itsuki and Fakir."

She looked back in her direction, "But you saw what happened at the trial. He still follows under Sarah's orders. He would've killed both of us if she told him to."

And with that, she did make a valid point. But she still didn't want to believe that he was completely against them. "He obeys orders but he's not a monster."

"No not like me and Shadow", she spoke in a bitter tone.

She hated seeing her like this. Ever since the trial, she was nothing but a roller coaster of emotions. She would go from being angry, to sad, to depressed in under five minutes flat. It was like she was pregnant all over again. "Rouge..."

"I wonder what they're doing to him in there..."

Tonya slightly tilted her head, "...Why don't you ask Miss Wish?"

Rouge turned back to her in confusion, "Huh?"

She took her hands from Rouge's shoulders, "Miss Wish actually requested that you come down to her office."

Sarah had wanted to see her? Why? And so suddenly? "...What for?"

Tonya slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Not sure. She relayed the message to Espio. I don't think it's that important. Otherwise she would've had a squad of G.U.N. soldiers bust down your door again", she had teased.

She placed a hand to her chest while she was deep in thought about what Sarah could want to speak with her about. "She wants to see me...maybe she wants to ask more about what happened. But I honestly can't remember anything and she knows that."

"It's okay. Just whatever she asks, tell her what she wants to know to the best of your ability."

She made a small nod as she agreed with her.

A small smile formed on Tonya's lips, "And who knows? Maybe it's good news about Shadow."

"I hope so. That would calm my nerves a lot better", she spoke while rubbing the side of her head in frustration.

"And don't worry about Spike. I'll look after him while you head over to talk to her."

She stepped over to her to quickly hug her, "Thank you, Tonya. You're a lifesaver."

She rubbed her back gently while she hugged her, "No problem, sweetie. No go see what Miss Wish wants." When she finally pulled away from her, she watched as she hurriedly made her way out the door on her way to see what Sarah had wanted.

**Author's Note: And here it is! Another update! Now if you guys haven't noticed I have changed a few things as far as the layouts with this story. I'm testing the waters to explore a new writing style. Also yes I have been titling chapters again. I figured maybe it would be easier for you guys to track down chapters better. Anyway I hope you will like this new story layout! Also sorry if this chapter was rather short or just rambly. More intense scenes will appear in the next chapter! How is Shadow handling prison anyway? Find out in the next chapter! R&R please!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Rouge: Please, Miss Wish. Let me see my husband.**

**Sarah: Shadow cannot be trusted...**

**Trevor: You can't let your emotions get the best of you!**

**Shadow: Everything I've done...I can't take it back...**

**Trevor: What the hell is going on?**

**Shadow: Who...who are you?**

**Infinite: You may call me Infinite...**


	3. Forgiveness?

**CHAPTER 3**

Sarah sat behind her large brown desk that was almost covered in papers. She was busy writing out paperwork until she heard the door to her office slowly opening. She looked away from the papers she was writing on and directed her attention towards the door of her office. Once she saw a white bat woman peek her head into the large office, she took the pen she held and placed it down on the surface of her desk. "Rouge?"

"Miss Wish?" She shyly called. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Rouge", she spoke in a calm tone. "Please come in."

After she granted her permission to step inside her office, Rouge slowly made her way into the office and quietly closed the door behind her.

Sarah watched as she started to approach the front of her desk. She observed her and saw that she seemed pretty nervous. She didn't want her to be that way towards her. She wanted to ease as much tension as possible. "I apologize that I called you here so suddenly."

"It's all right, Miss Wish", she froze in her tracks when she saw her stand from her desk chair and make sure way around to the front of her desk so she could stand in front of her.

She relaxed herself by leaning her back against the desk and crossed her arms across her chest. "I would've spoken to you sooner but since you and your husband aren't together at the moment, I had to use this opportunity."

"...Opportunity?" She repeated blankly.

She made a nod, "Yes. I need to ask something of you."

She tilted her head in confusion towards her, "Huh?"

"I know you claim you don't remember the events prior to you being a demon but I need to know anything you do recall."

"...About what?"

"The Dark Alliance", she spoke in a serious tone. "They've been a thorn in The Council's side for years and yet we all still know so little about this group of S ranking demons. Who they are exactly? And what they want? And most importantly where is their location?"

"Their location?"

She once again made a nod, "Yes from what we slowly gathered from the other Council members overtime, they have a haven that's got to be somewhere in this city. I believe they call it The Nest."

"The Nest...", she murmured lowly. She tried to think about those words and hard. It seemed that she had heard those words before but everything was still a heavy blur for her.

Sarah noticed that she was deep in thought and had hoped that she could gather some kind of information from her. She rose an eyebrow towards her, "Does that sound familiar to you?"

When she realized she wasn't going to remember anything about their location, she sighed heavily and placed her hand on the side of her head. "To be honest, Miss Wish. No. I don't have any memory of much of anything while I was under that mind control. I'm sorry..."

She let out a heavy sigh in disappoint, "That's unfortunate. I was really hoping to get some answers so we can finally put an end to The Dark Alliance."

"I'm sorry, Miss Wish. Perhaps Shadow may know more about their location..."

Sarah's eyes had suddenly darted over to hers, "Shadow cannot be trusted."

She took a small step back and placed a finger to her chin, "...Um?" She had hoped that she didn't upset her but what she suggested was the truth. Shadow remembered everything that had taken place while the both of them were full demons. If anyone knew their location, it was him.

A bitter look has formed on her face as she explained, "As far as I'm concerned, Shadow is a traitor to The Council."

Rouge rose an eyebrow towards her, "...What? Well if you don't trust Shadow, what makes you think you can trust me?"

"Because", she began. "You're not a demon. Not anymore", she spoke as she stared into her pure aqua green eyes. "Shadow was born a half breed. There is no going back for him. Besides with you not able to remember anything, no offense but you are the least of The Council's problems. Shadow is our top concern."

Rouge slightly shook her head as she knew Shadow would never have any intention of betraying her or The Council. "Wha? Shadow? No he wouldn't..."

Rouge's reaction was no surprise for her. With her being his wife, she knew she had wanted to stick by his side and trust every word and action he made. "Darkness isn't just simply his demon counterpart. He is apart of him. He knows everything about him that we don't. His thoughts, his feelings, his motives." She sighed heavily and gave her a sympathetic look, "I know you love your husband, Rouge. There is no denying that. But have you ever thought what lies deep within his subconscious? What his demon self is constantly screaming in his head to do? To kill? To rampage? To lie?"

Rouge paused and bit her lip slightly as she began to think over Sarah's words.

Sarah's eyes slightly shifted away from hers, "I knew what he was capable of and I ignored it because I thought I saw the good in him. But..." She turned back to face her, "After what just happened, it was a nice wake up call."

"...Is this...is this why I can't see him?"

"This is why no one is allowed to see him. At this point, he is a manipulative threat."

"Well if that's the case, dare I ask why throw him in prison in the first place? Once his sentence is up, what then?"

"Trust me, Rouge. I have much more up my sleeve for him."

After hearing her words, Rouge couldn't help but to think that maybe he was being tortured in the prison after all. "...How is he doing? Is he doing okay in there?"

"You mean down in D Block? Commander Grey has been filling me in on what's been happening and Shadow has been most cooperative. He's been giving us no difficulties while serving out his sentence."

She placed her hand on her chest and sighed heavily in relief. It felt good to know that nothing major had happened since he was brought to the prison. She was slightly startled when she felt Sarah's hand suddenly fall on her shoulder.

"Look I'm not trying to shit on your marriage or anything but you need to realize that Shadow isn't all who he depicts himself as." She leaned over to her to whisper in her ear, "He managed to escape death. Prison? A mere cakewalk in my opinion. But once he gets out, we're watching him...and you should too, Rouge."

Her eyes widened and her hands slightly shook by her side after hearing Sarah's words warning her. She wanted to believe that everything Sarah was telling her was wrong. But on the other hand, she had a deep and sickening feeling that being around Shadow was not going to be the same way ever again.

* * *

It was mid afternoon that next day. At Sally's house, Sonic was sitting in a red reclining chair within the living. He watched as Sally silently folded laundry and set them on the sofa that matched the recliner he had sat in. He studied her expression and it appeared that she had a lot on her mind especially due to the awkward silence in the room. He was curious to know if anything was bothering her. He had to admit that ever since she attended the trial, she had been acting a little off than usual. He remembered that she did tell him what happened during the trial. He was still in shock from what she had told him. She spoke up and praised Shadow enough that Sarah decided to spare his life. He had never been so confused. Did Shadow actually rape her? If so, why would she speak up for him and let him live? He bit his lip before he could begin to speak what exactly was on his mind. "Sucks I wasn't able to join you and Lydia at the trial the other day."

"Well", she spoke without turning to him. "It was a leaders and captains thing. Besides nothing exciting happened", she replied blandly while she continued to fold laundry.

From what she had told him, the trial didn't seem the least bit bland to him. He rose an eyebrow, "Are you kidding? Shadow and Rouge were seconds away from their heads rolling off their shoulders. Shit sounded pretty intense if you ask me." He awaited for another reply from her but she continued to remain silent while she worked on folding her laundry. He decided now what the time to finally speak out what he had on his mind. He slowly shifted his eyes away from her and directed them down to the floor, "Shadow would've died if it weren't for you. And with you doing that, I realized something..."

When she spun around to turn to him, she saw him getting up from the recliner and started to walk over to her.

"That night when I saw how scared you were after Shadow broke in, I immediately assumed the worst and on my end was being selfish about how you felt about everything." He reached his hand out to her and gently held her hand as he looked into her blue eyes. "And with what you did, everything couldn't be any more clear." He slightly shook his head, "I was wrong. Shadow didn't rape you. I mean if that was the case, you would've told me already. Right?"

She made a small and slow nod towards him as she tried her best to look him in his eyes.

"Besides you definitely would've let his head roll if he did", he spoke with a small laugh under his breath. He took his thumb and gently caressed her hand with it, "You were just sad to see him act the way that he did. I know it must was hard to see a good friend in that awful state. You two really do care about each other."

Her eyes slightly shifted away from his, "He's my friend. I only did what he would do for me."

Sonic slightly tilted his head, "You think he would've done what you did and saved your life if you were in that kind of jam?"

Her eyes locked back with his while she made a small nod, "...I know he would."

A warm smile formed on Sonic's lips as he did agree. "You know what? I think he would too. When he gets out of the slammer, at least you and Luke will still remain by his side. As far as The Council goes anyway."

Sally again made a small nod and leaned over to him to place her hand on his chest and rest her head on his shoulder while he held her close to him. "I love you, Sonic."

"I love you too, Sal", he spoke before he pulled her body away slightly just to lean in and press his lips against hers. His hands slightly gripped tighter around her body while their lip lock turned into a passionate one. He heard a low moan escape from her as his tongue explored her mouth.

When she felt his hands moving downward, she playfully nudged him away and gave him a teasing look. "Sonic, I'm trying to finish folding these clothes."

He kept his hands wrapped around her waist and softly kissed her neck, "Since when do princesses fold their own clothes anyway?"

She giggled softly as his lips brushed against her neck gently, "Sonic", she giggled.

"I say we make a pile and do it all over the clean clothes", he spoke in a seductive tone.

She placed a finger to his chest and gave him a sly look, "No way! I am not rewashing these clothes because you decided to get your jizz all over them!"

He made a small yet defeated sigh, "Fine." He had then picked her body up from the floor and held her in his arms bridal style. "We'll screw on the bed then."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned close to have her nose touching his with a bright smile on her face. "And that's all I ask." She leaned into brush her lips against his one final time before he carried her up the stairs and towards the bedroom.

* * *

Within the G.U.N. military facility, a soldier who wore the standard blue uniform was casually walking down the quiet and narrow hallway of Block D. The walls and floor were snow white and with the many lights that were on the ceiling, it made the entire hallway appear as bright and radiant as could be. As the soldier walked, he held a black plate with food on it. It had a sandwich that was in two slices that was packed with lettuce, cheese, and a few slices of ham. As far as a side, there was a few sticks of celery also. He walked past a few cells that were empty. He knew that the Almas they kept were located further within the prison block. He stopped and stood in front of one of the cells and looked through the black metal bars that separated him and the person who was in the cell. His eyes fell upon the male black and red hedgehog who sat away from the bars of the cell and had his back against the wall. He couldn't see much of him as he had his head buried in his knees. He couldn't tell if he was asleep or not.

His prison attire consisted of a white button up long sleeve shirt, white pants, and brown boots. He also wore a strange black collar around his neck. The collar appeared to fit him fairly loosely but what made it so unusual was the light blue light that radiated around it. The hedgehog's ears perked up when he heard a violent shaking of the bars coming from the entrance of the cell he was in.

"Hey! Wake up!" The soldier shouted at him.

He appeared not to have been bothered by the sudden sound of the bars shaking and slowly picked his head away from his knees and turned to the soldier who stood on the other side of the cell.

When the soldier finally caught sight of him, he could tell that he appeared sleep deprived and his face was slightly sunken in from his constant dropping of weight. He was in pretty bad shape. Ever since he was brought to the prison, his health was getting worse and worse. He bent down and placed the plate of food down in front of the cell. "You've barely eaten anything since you were brought here. The commander wants you to start eating."

He shifted his tired red eyes over at the plate of food that was on the floor. He stared at what was in the sandwich slices and then looked back at the soldier. "...I don't eat meat."

The soldier placed his hands on his hips and gave him a sarcastic look, "Oh you're real funny aren't you?" Suddenly their was an angry tone in his voice as he crossed his arms and glared at him. "You didn't have a problem eating meat before. Did you, demon?"

This wasn't the first time a soldier had confronted him like this. He had been getting taunted and even beaten by soldiers whenever Trevor wasn't around. With this soldier, he was treating him no different than the rest of them.

"I don't understand why they're keeping you locked up in here anyway. If you ask me, they should've let your head roll at the trial! Demon bastard!" He spat angrily.

He saw him stand closer to the cell and place his hand tightly on one of the bars while he angrily glared towards him.

"I remember when you were picked to become third lieutenant for the facility! What a joke! I guess everyone just forgot you killed hundreds of soldiers before then right? Bastard! You killed my comrades! And Mayor Wish just brushes it off and rewards you with such a noble position within the facility! Do you not feel any goddamn remorse?"

He briefly started to remember the time he had helped run the facility with two other lieutenants. It was both a rewarding and yet so bitter memory. Most of all, it was more so bitter. "...Of course I do. More than what you or anyone else could possibly imagine." His eyes slowly shifted from his, "All those innocent people...I can't take it back...I should die..."

"Yeah", he angrily huffed. "You should die..."

His eyes had then caught sight of him taking out his handgun and pointing it at him through the bars of the cell.

His finger was tightly securely on the trigger of the gun. "I'll shoot you in the brain. That'll kill you. And after that, I'll finish the job by cutting off your head."

After hearing the soldier tell him of what he would do to him, he didn't seem at all bothered by it. He seemed quite apathetic about it. "Do what you must."

Before he could fire his gun, he was suddenly pushed down to the floor which caused him to drop his gun. He had then heard an angry male voice yelling out.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

The soldier looked up and saw a male yellow lion wearing a black uniform standing there and angrily looking down at him. "Co-Commander!"

Both his fists were tightly clenched in anger, "You are not to kill anyone without my permission! Do you understand?"

He quickly stood from the floor and turned to him while he was fully about to explain himself. "But...but, sir!" He was cut off from his words when he heard him yelling out at him again.

"You heard me! And you are now forbidden having access to this block! Do not come in here again! Do I make myself clear?"

When he saw him taking his finger and pointing down the hall, he couldn't hide the bitter look on his face. "Yes, sir..." he spoke in a low tone. He turned and picked up the gun he had dropped to the floor while flashing Shadow one last hateful look before he finally left the two alone.

"Asshole", Trevor huffed angrily under his breath after he watched him leaving the hall. He then slightly sighed before turning to Shadow. He noticed that Shadow had not at all looked disturbed about what the soldier was about to do to him. "Are you okay, Shadow?"

"Yeah", he spoke as his eyes shifted away from him. "I'm fantastic", he spoke in a sarcastic tone.

He sighed heavily and rubbed the side of his head, "I apologize. That won't happen again."

He wasn't sure if Trevor was aware that he was being abused behind closed doors. Trevor still cared for his well being but he was one of the few people if not the only person who looked out for him. However he couldn't keep watch of every soldiers' move. He had a facility to run after all. There was no way he could monitor everything that was happening to him. And with his body being covered by the shirt and pants, he wasn't able to see all of the marks that the soldiers left on his body. "It's not surprising really. I know more than half of this facility wants me dead. I don't blame them..."

He was aware that Shadow was in a dark state of mind. It was no mystery that he felt guilty for all the things he had done and it clear that he was self harming himself by not eating. His eyes traveled down at the plate of food the soldier had left for him. He then looked back at Shadow, "Why haven't you been eating?"

"I can't eat. Everything makes me sick..."

"But you have to eat something." He pointed at the strange collar he had on around his neck, "That collar was made specially to cancel out your Chaos powers. It drains away any source of high energy readings from your body. Though if you don't counteract it by keeping your strength up by eating, you could possibly lose any form of feeling left in your body."

"...And?" He spoke in a careless tone.

He couldn't help but to feel an uprising anger within him as he heard his careless reply. "Your body will give up on you and you could die, Shadow."

He made a soft and saddened sigh as he continued to not look him in the eyes. "...That doesn't seem like a problematic thing to me."

"Look I can't take that collar off. Sarah requested you wear it in case something happened." He was loyal to Sarah's orders through and through however he would hate to see him die simply because of natural causes. He honestly didn't know what else to do to try to motivate him to fight off the collar's parasitic like power.

"I don't care, Trevor."

At this point, he didn't know for how much longer he could hold in his clear as day anger and frustration towards him. He gripped his hands around the metal bars of the cell tightly while he angrily looked over to him. "What? Are you even listening to yourself? You're acting like you want to die!" When he notice him keeping his eyes directed from him and remaining silent, he made a long pause as he figured out that dying was his intention the whole time. His grip around the metal bars had slowly eased up, "...At the trial...you wanted to die. Didn't you?" He then heard soft sobbing coming from him. He was still facing away from him so he couldn't see him visibly crying but he knew that he was.

He buried his head in his knees as he softly sobbed, "I'm tired. I'm so tired..." He slowly clenched his hand into a fist, "Becoming this blood thirsty monster doing awful things. Saying awful things. I hate hurting people I care about." He slightly shook his head while it was still buried in his knees, "Rouge...she should have never been apart of that. She didn't deserve to be so terrified. That's why I fought as much as I could to take my life instead of hers. I didn't want her to die..."

"Shadow..."

"If anyone deserves to die, it needs to be me. I'm the monster everyone fears and hates..."

He slowly shook his head, "You're wrong. If you were the monster you claim to be you still wouldn't be here and alive. People care about you, Shadow. It was proven even at the trial." His eyes slightly shifted away from him, "I mean there was Rick but hey that prick hates just about everyone." He shifted his eyes back over to him, "My point being is you matter, Shadow. Think about it. Espio and the rest of The Chaotix risked their lives to help you and Rouge after everyone else already gave up on you guys." He slowly shook his head, "And Sally...God if it weren't for her, you'd already be dead!"

Just hearing Sally's name made his heart race inside of his chest. Every time he heard her name or saw her face, all he could think about was that passionate night that was mistakenly shared between them. Even after when she found out that Darkness was controlling him, she still ended up saving his life in the end. "...Sally..."

"You should be lucky to have Luke and Sally who still have your back on The Council. Especially when no one else did!" He noticed his sudden silence and had hoped that he was finally getting though to him, "Look I can't imagine the pain and the horrid thoughts going through your head right now but you gotta snap the hell out of it already. Think about your friends and family. You have a wife and son damn it! For God's sake! You're only in this shit hole for two weeks! This isn't shit, Shadow and you know this!"

He finally took his head away from his knees and looked back up at him with his face almost drenched in his tears. He tried to wipe away some of the remaining tears from his face. "But I can't fix this...not again..."

"Yes you can! By living for the ones you love and care about!" He saw him about to speak again but he continued to shout at him, "Live damn it! Live for them!"

He looked down at the plate of food and then back at Trevor. "...Can you take the meat out of the sandwich and slide the plate over to me?"

He was relieved after hearing his reply. He figured he may have gotten through to him after all. A small and warm smile formed on his lips, "Sure." He bent down to remove the meat from the sandwich and then slid the plate of food under the metal bars of the cell. He watched as he reached for the sandwich and picked it up to soon start taking smile bites out of it. His smile slightly widened when he saw him gulping down the food. "I hope it isn't too bad. It is kinda your typical prison food."

"It's better than dirt so I'm not complaining", he spoke with he chewed the food.

The smile faded from his lips when he saw him suddenly drop the sandwich to the floor and began to nervously look around them. "Shadow? What is it?"

"...I feel something", he replied as he continued to cautiously scan the area around them.

"What? Your stomach growling?" He slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion as he didn't understand what had suddenly made him so uneasy.

"No. It's..."

He then saw him suddenly stand up from the floor and gave him a panicked look.

"A demon!"

Trevor crossed his arms and gave him a grimaced look, "Shadow, I hate to break it to you but you are in D Block. Almas are just further down the hall."

He shook his head, "No you don't understand! I sense a high level of energy!"

Trevor's face turned pale and he began to reach for the gun that was in his holster on his belt. "A level S demon..." Before he could do anything else, the wall that was near him was suddenly blasted to bits. The blast was so powerful, it blew his body back onto the floor. He fell to the floor with dust from the rubble from the walls scattering all over the floor

Shadow shielded himself from the sudden blast of pieces of dust and rubble that scattered throughout the place. When he took his hands away from his face, he saw the bright light from the outside beaming inside of the prison hall. It took almost no time for the security alarm to be heard through the prison block. He looked down at Trevor's unconscious bod that was laying away from his cell. "Trevor!" He attempted to shout at him to wake him but he didn't move a muscle. When the dust settled a bit, he saw the silhouette of a figure that appeared to be hovering in mid air from the now open entrance from the outside. His eyes widened as he stared at the mysterious figure.

The figure was a male black jackal with long white dreadlocks. He wore a red long sleeve tailcoat with gold buttons. The coat he wore was worn open revealing a white sleeveless shirt underneath. He had on dark blue fitted jeans, a brown belt was worn around his waist, and he had on some kind of black and silver high top shoes and black gloves.

Shadow's eyes were glued to the strange silver mask the jackal wore over his head to conceal his identity. Other than the strange designs on it, he noticed through the one red lens from his mask, he could see his yellow eye that seemed to practically be glowing.

The jackal held up his hand and revealed a strange red ruby with a strange black pattern within it. He stared into the ruby as if he was looking at something within it. "This is it", he spoke. "You're the one I've been searching for..."

"...What? Who...who the hell are you?"

The jackal looked away from the strange ruby he held and turned to the confused hedgehog. "You may call me...Infinite..."

**Author's Note: Just wanted to take the time to thank you guys so much for your awesome comments and reviews! I'm so happy to see that this story is a great success so far! Again thank you all so much and I promise you more chapters are on the way! So until then, I will see you guys on the flipside!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Infinite: Black and red hedgehog...there is no doubt...**

**Shadow: Who the hell are you? What do you want?**

**Trevor: Get away from him!**

**Infinite: All weak beings need to be erased from this planet...**

**Sally: ...Rouge?**

**Rouge: Hello, Sally...**


	4. Prison Break?

**CHAPTER 4**

Sounds of the loud alarm system could be heard clearly all throughout the military facility that had been broken into. The alarm was loud enough to hurt everyone's ears. Dust and smoke from the large blast from the wall the mysterious jackal had broken through was thick and could barely see anything.

While laying on the floor, the sounds of the alarm seemed to slowly wake Trevor up. Small groaning could be heard from him as he tried to weakly gather up strength to get up from the floor that was almost covered in rubble from bits and pieces of the wall. He slowly clenched the dusty floor with his fingertips as he lowly groaned, "Shadow..."

Shadow continued to keep his distance away from the mysterious jackal who had broken into the prison block within the military facility. He watched him hover from the outside and gently land his feet on the floor inside of the prison hall. While he held out the strange red ruby in one hand, he watched him take his other hand and blast a strange red energy cube at the speaker on the wall from where the noise from the alarm system could be heard. His eyes widened at the sight of the strange cube being used as a type of explosive.

Once there was silence within the hall, the jackal had spoke out once again with his attention falling on the black and red hedgehog. "So", he began. "You're him..."

"What?" He spoke in an angry tone.

The jackal looked back at the red ruby in his hand, "Black and red hedgehog. There is no doubt." He took the ruby and placed it in the inside of his coat pocket before directing his attention back to Shadow, "You are Shadow The Hedgehog."

"Yeah? And what of it, demon?" He somehow wasn't that surprised that he had knew of his name. He apparently was a very unique demon. A high ranking demon just as the members of The Dark Alliance were. He wondered if he knew them or was sent by them.

"I've heard a great deal of you. More so noted as one of the strongest demons alive. And with a title like that, I could not simply ignore such an opportunity to meet a demon such as yourself." He placed a finger to his chin, "However...your powers levels come off as weak. You're not at full strength and that's simply not acceptable."

Shadow saw him stepping closer to the cell he was in and backed away even further from the bars.

"I didn't come all this way to see you in this state. Drink my blood and become Darkness!"

Shadow's eyes widened at his words. Did he hear him correctly? He wanted him to become Darkness? But he wondered why? What were his intentions? "...What?" Before he or Infinite could say anything more, other voices could be heard from down the hall.

"The blast came from D Block!"

"This way!"

They then both heard multiple footsteps running down the hall and towards their direction. They turned and saw multiple soldiers confronting them with guns in their hands and pointing them at Infinite.

The soldiers stood there and laid their eyes on the mysterious jackal with confused looks on their faces.

"Who...what is that?" One had asked.

"You! Who are you? Get away from that cell!" Another soldier shouted.

While showing no concern for the soldiers that threatened him, Infinite had turned back to Shadow. "I'll even make it easy for you and kill these soldiers so you can devour their flesh to become strong again."

Shadow's heart raced as he heard his words. He was indeed trying to reawaken his inner demon and to have him at full strength. He couldn't understand why and at the same time, he strongly declined his morbid offer. "I won't...I won't do such a thing!"

After hearing his answer, he let out a heavy sigh, "That's not what I wanted to hear..."

"I won't say it again! Step away from that cell!" The soldier again shouted out. He then saw the jackal raising his hand out towards him and the rest of the soldiers. It wasn't long before he found himself and the rest of them hovering from the floor.

"What is this?" One soldier asked in an alarming voice. "I can't move!"

Shadow didn't know what was going on but he was too afraid to find out. "What are you doing?" Before he could get a reply from him, he suddenly heard yelling and shouting coming from the soldiers. They sounded like they were crying out in pain. He looked back over to him and saw hand like it was clenched something. It had looked like some kind of mind control. It reminded him of what Angel did to Sonic during their first encounter. "What are you doing to them? Stop!" Once he saw him clench his hand into a fist towards them, blood was seen scattering in the air. It covered the once white walls, ceiling, and floor from where the soldiers once were.

While still laying on the floor, Trevor helplessly watched as the soldiers' bodies exploded from the inside. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly after witnessing the morbid sight.

Shadow placed his hand over his mouth as he stared at the blood bath that took place before his very eyes. His eyes fell upon what was left of the soldiers' bodies that were laying on the floor that was covered in blood.

When the blood had splattered, some of it had gotten on the side of the jackal's mask. After killing the soldiers, he turned back to Shadow and had one of the strange red energy cubes appear and blast open the cell Shadow was in.

Shadow shielded his face from the blast and tried to keep his distance away from him as much as he could. After the light dust had cleared, he saw Infinite stepping into the now open cell and slowly start stepping his way over to him. The more he stepped towards him, the more he had backed away until his back had met the wall within the cell.

While he continued to step closer to him, he took his hand and gently wiped away some of the blood that was on the side of his mask.

Shadow stood there honestly not knowing what to do. He couldn't defend himself. If he tried to fight him, he knew he'd easily lose. With him in his poor health and with the effects of the collar that was around his neck, he felt as defenseless as a child. It was even difficult for him to even stand without his knees shaking. He then found Infinite face to face with him with his face inches away from his.

"You're so weak, Shadow", he spoke as he slowly raised his hand that was dripping with blood. He took his other hand and firmly pressed it against his chest so that he couldn't move from the wall.

He tried to break free from his grip but it was no use. He just wasn't strong enough, "Get the hell away from me!" His eyes widened as he saw his fingertips that were soaked in fresh blood being brought closer and closer towards his mouth.

"You can't deny it. The demon inside of you, craves mortal flesh and blood."

"N-No!" He shut his eyes tightly and turned his head away from him to avoid him placing his bloody fingers into his mouth.

While Infinite was distracted by Shadow, Trevor spotted a radio that was covered in blood on the floor. He picked it up and lowly spoke into it, "R-25. D Block. Hurry..."

With Shadow struggling so much, his fingers shifted slightly to the right and had left a streak of the blood on the side of his cheek instead.

Infinite stared at the blood that was now on Shadow's cheek and then looked back towards him who still attempted to fend him off. "...Why do you resist? Why do you deny who you are? Is it for the sake of these mortals?" He then shoved himself away from him and pointed at the black collar that was around his neck. "You want to know why you're so weak and frail? Just look! Look what the mortals have done to you!" He had then clenched his fist in anger, "I don't understand why you protect such weak and feeble beings when they treat you like garbage and strip your powers away! You don't even have the strength to fight! Let alone stand!"

Trevor saw Infinite confronting Shadow and tried to slowly stand from the floor.

While Shadow gently placed his hand on the collar that was around his neck, he saw him step over to him once again. He winced when he saw him tightly grip around his wrist.

"You don't belong here with these inferior beings. You...you walk among them like you're one of them. You're not like them and you know that! You want to know why I know, Shadow?"

He felt his grip around his wrist tighten, "Get away from me!" He then felt his wrist being pulled which caused his body to almost meet his. When his face was inches from his, he couldn't help but to stare into his glowing yellow eye.

"Because you're just like me!"

And in that instant, time had seemed like it had stopped as all kinds of thoughts rushed to his mind. Who was he exaclty? How did he know so much about him? And what did he mean he was just like him?

Trevor finally stood to his feet and held up a magnum towards the jackal who had his back turned to him. He finger was securely placed on the trigger. "Get away from him!" He pulled the trigger to the gun and fired a round at him.

With little to no reaction, a powerful round was fired into Infinite's shoulder. He made a small pause while blood oozed from his apparent gunshot wound. While slowly turning away from Shadow, he made a small and devious laugh under his breath, "Foolish mortal..."

When Trevor saw him finally looking in his direction, he saw one of the strange energy cubes appear and was sent flying towards him. He used his hand to try to block it but once it hit his hand, the strange energy from it had burned his hand enough to cause him to yell out in pain. Another cube had came towards him and struck him in the shoulder. It burned and singed his flesh as it made contact with him.

Shadow watched in horror as he fell to his knees and held his burning and bleeding shoulder in pain. "Trevor!" Before he could rush over to him, he watched in amazement as he disappeared and reappeared in front of Trevor. 'What? What was that? Was that...Chaos Control?'

"Pathetic", he spoke in a bitter tone as he looked down upon Trevor who was still holding his wounded shoulder. "All weak mortals need to be erased from this planet."

When Shadow saw him hold his hand out towards him, he knew he was going to attack him again. He had to do something but he didn't know what. Just something to try to save Trevor from dying.

Before Infinite could attack him, he watched Shadow practically fell on top of him in order to shield his body from him. "What?"

"No!" He fell to his knees and tried to cover Trevor's body with his so Infinite couldn't kill him. "If you want to kill him, then you'll have to kill me first!"

While still trying to fight off from the searing pain from his shoulder, he looked up at Shadow with a look of both surprise and relief. "Shadow..."

The jackal took his hand away from him and slightly tilted his head in confusion towards Shadow's actions. "You would risk your life for a mortal who locked you in a cell and make you wear such a cruel device?"

At that point, he didn't care if he would kill him to try to get to Trevor. He knew he wasn't going to just sit by and helplessly watch him die. "After the things I've said...the things I've done...I won't stand by and watch more people die because of me!"

"...You're a fool, Shadow." Before he could do anything else, he had then heard the door to the hallway opening again. He turned and saw a group of soldiers standing at the end of the hallway pointing what looked like a rocket launcher towards him

"Fire!" A soldier shouted out.

Before he could react, the blast from the launcher hit him hard enough to knock him out of the hall and back outside from where he came.

Afterwards, Shadow and Trevor turned and saw the jackal hovering in the air from outside.

The jackal stared menacingly at the hedgehog, "This isn't over...Darkness..."

Shadow had then once again saw him suddenly vanish within the strange red cubes. Before he could do anything else, he was suddenly tackled down to the floor by the multiple soldiers that entered the room.

"Get on the ground, demon!"

"Don't move!"

As he tried to cooperate with the soldiers, he felt his wrists being roughly and tightly restrained by what it felt like some kind of cuffs.

While other soldiers were restraining Shadow, a few of the soldiers had rushed over to help Trevor off of the floor.

"Commander! Are you okay?" One had asked.

While holding his injured shoulder, Trevor seemed to be in quite a daze. "I...I'm fine..."

"Who the hell was that?" Another soldier asked.

Trevor looked back out at the opening from the wall the jackal had made when he broke in. "I don't know..." His eyes then traveled over to Shadow who was forced from the floor by two soldiers. He turned to the soldiers who had restrained him, "...Take him to D-101."

"Yes, sir!"

Afterwards he watched as the two soldiers along with three others roughly escort Shadow down the hallway. He then spun around and stared at the corpses of the soldiers that were killed by Infinite. He let out a heavy sigh as he tried to prepare himself to report what all had happened to Sarah. "God damn it..."

* * *

While laying comforting in the large bed within Sally's bedroom, Sonic gently clutched onto Sally's bare naked body and pulled her close to him.

With her back turned to him, she could feel his bare body brushing upon hers while they both laid there under the thin satin light blue sheets of the bed. A warm blush remained on her face as she briefly began to recall the two's passionate session they had just shared with each other.

A small and satisfied smile formed on Sonic's lips while he held her body lovingly in his arms, "That was great, Sal."

"You didn't do too bad yourself, Blue", she spoke in a teasing tone along with a soft giggle. She placed her hands gently over his while he held her body close to his, "I love you, Sonic."

Sonic nuzzled his face into her neck as he held her close to him, "I love you too, Sal. So damn much." His ears perked up when he and Sally had both heard the doorbell suddenly ring from downstairs. He let out an annoyed sigh, "Who the hell is at the door at this time of day?"

With a small giggle, Sally got herself out of his grip and began to get out of bed to find a robe to cover her body with. "It's not even that late. The sun's still up you know?"

Sonic rolled over on his back and placed his hands behind his head while Sally found a light blue robe that came down to her knees to put on. "Yeah but still. Tell em to beat it. I was hoping for another round with you."

"At least let me find out who it is", after she put on her robe, she began to walk towards the door of the bedroom. She turned to Sonic one last time before leaving the room, "I'll be back."

"Kay. Don't keep me waiting too long, babe."

While Sally made her way down the stairs, she heard the doorbell ring once more. She slightly frowned as she heard the ringing once again. She let out a heavy sigh in annoyance. "Goddamn it. I'm coming", she huffed under her breath. When she finally made it to the door, she opened the door and stood there at the doorway with her body completely frozen from the sight of who was standing at her doorstep. Her eyes fell upon a white bat woman who held a baby black hedgehog in her arms. The sight of her made her heart race inside her chest. "...Rouge?"

The bat woman had a small and friendly smile on her face. "Hello, Sally..."

**Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter. Next one will be longer and will be posted next week! See you then! R&R please!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Sally: Rouge, I...**

**Rouge: He's alive because of you, Sally. You saved my husband's life...**

**Espio: This is bullshit! Why didn't she tell us this?**

**Infinite: It's been awhile, Dark Demon...**


	5. Reconcile?

**CHAPTER 5**

There was a long yet awkward silence as Sally stared at the white bat woman who was standing in front of her on the other side of her doorway. Her hands slightly shook nervously. She clenched them into a fist beside her waist and tried to stop her hand from shaking. She gulped as her heart raced inside of her chest. She knew who the bat woman was. She was none other than Shadow's wife, Rouge. She had caught several glimpses of her before but as far as the two actually speaking to each other and face to face, it was unspoken of. She wondered what had happened that made her want to show up at her doorstep and so suddenly. Her palms began to warm up inside of her clenched fists. She immediately assumed the worst and thought she had found out about the passionate night she shared with Shadow. However she studied her facial expression and she seemed quite calm and content. The silence between them was broken when the baby hedgehog Rouge had held in her arms softly giggled while he tried to take off one of his white socks. And with that, Sally snapped out of her thoughts and came back to reality. "...Rouge?"

Rouge held the happy and giggling baby hedgehog in her arms as she continued to smile warmly towards her, "Hello, Sally. I...I know this is sudden but can I come in?"

Sally still remained frozen at the doorway with my thoughts still ongoing. She just knew she came to her to talk about Shadow but the question was what about?

Rouge's warm smile slightly faded when she noticed how shocked Sally was to see her. She couldn't really blame her for being surprised to see her. The two never spoke face to face with each other before so she could imagine how strange it was for her to see her arrive at her doorstep so suddenly. She began to regret her decision showing up at her house in the first place. "...I'm sorry. Did I come at a bad time? I can leave if..."

She offended her and she barely said two words to her since she arrived. Rouge didn't appear to be angry so far and Sally wasn't determined to start everything off between them so poorly. She quickly raised her hands up and gently waved them towards her, "N-No you're totally fine. I promise." She then slightly stepped to the side to allow Rouge to come inside of her home. "Please come in."

When Rouge slowly stepped inside of her house, she glanced around to admire the few things that stood out to her. She had a gorgeous chandelier hanging above her from when she stepped into the hall. She also had unique paintings and pictures hanging on her wall. She even had rare vases and statues that were placed on small tables within the hall. Her home really did have a royalty type vibe to it. "Nice place you got here", she spoke as she still glanced around.

"Thank you", she replied in a modest tone while she closed the door behind her. She had then began to walk towards the living room with Rouge following behind her. "We can sit down in here if you want."

When Rouge stepped into the living room with her, she observed the fairly large room. The room like the hall she entered through had its royal aura to it. The chairs and recliners were of a suede like material and her curtains were a light blue silk material. Her eyes had then caught sight of a red reclining chair that had a pile of folded laundry in it but spotted a chair that was large enough for two people to sit in it. She thought that maybe she had caught her in the middle of her doing her laundry. She walked over to the roomy chair that was made for two people and took a seat on it it. She watched as Sally took a seat in another empty red reclining chair that was across from her. There was a small moment of silence before she began to speak out to her again. "I'm sorry for showing up at your doorstep so suddenly."

"It's quite all right, Rouge. I don't mind", she spoke as she casually crossed her legs. She tried to be careful. Her robe barely came past her knees and she wasn't wearing anything underneath. She placed her hands gently on her knees while she continued to speak, "I'm just...a little surprised to see you. Is everything okay?"

She mad a nod, "Yes everything's fine. I just...never got a chance to personally thank you." She saw Sally give her a slightly confused look. "I know you and Shadow were not on the best of terms when you two first started to work together on The Council."

Sally made a nod in agreement. It was true when she and Shadow first met, the two had absolutely hated each other. More so on her end than on his. She had hated him simply from the fact that he was a half demon and she next to Rick was not thrilled to have him on the Council.

Rouge continued while gently bouncing Spike up and down on her knee to keep him calm and content. "But after that mission he escorted you on to Acorn Kingdom, he came back and told us that you two had put your differences behind each other and you two decided to call a truce."

Sally again made a nod, "We just thought it was best. It was better to do that rather than constantly fight with each other."

Her smile widened on her lips. She never thought in a million years she would have this conversation with her but this was real. This moment between them was real. "And that means so much. It's been so hard for him to work with The Council especially with half of them turned against him for what he is..."

Looking back at it every day had made her feel horrible for the way she had treated him. She never laid her hands on him and neither did he. However the two shared their fair share of mental abuse towards each other.

Her eyes slowly shifted down to the floor, "Back at the trial, I really didn't know what was going to happen with only Luke on our side. Shadow had only a slim chance of living." She then looked back up at her, "But then you spoke out and praised him and convinced Sarah and the others to not kill him." She remembered every word Sally had spoke at the trial and just remembering it made tears swell in her eyes, "The things you said...they meant so much to me and Shadow too."

Just by hearing her voice beginning to crack, she knew she was getting emotional towards her and she truly wasn't ready for anything like this. "Rouge..."

"You saved his life, Sally", she spoke while trying to hold back her tears.

When she found it hard to look at her, she stood from her chair and turned her back to her to try to conceal her guilty expressions. "I was only doing what a true Council member would do."

Rouge slightly shook her head and stood from her chair as well as she continued to look over to her. "No. You did something a friend would do."

When Sally found the courage to turn back to face her, she saw a tear stream down her face. And after seeing that, made her heart drop. She watched as she slowly began to step over to her.

"I was wrong about you, Sally. I thought you would be like the others but you're not. You actually do see the good in him. You do have the heart of a true princess. Without you, Shadow wouldn't be here."

Sally's eyes widened as she saw her lean over suddenly embrace her. While she hugged her, her body stood there frozen like a statue not knowing what to do next.

She held onto her body tighter while she hugged her. "Because of you, he's alive. My husband's alive because of you, Sally. Thank you...thank you so much..."

The longer she had hugged her, the more she had wanted to push her away and blurt out what a horrible person she was and didn't deserve an ounce of her kindness. But she couldn't. At this point, she didn't think she could bare to see her anymore heartbroken. Before a word could pass through her lips, the both of them had suddenly heard footsteps coming down the stairs. They turned and saw Sonic standing halfway downstairs looking over to them in confusion.

"Oh!" He glanced down at himself with him only wearing blue jeans and nothing else. He nervously took a step back up the stairs. "Uh I didn't know we had company."

When Rouge saw Sonic's flustered look and then back at Sally who was obviously wearing nothing under her robe, she figured she had came over a little after the two were done having an intimate session with each other. She took her arms away from Sally and tried not to fight away the light blush on her face. "S-sorry I just wanted to chat with Sally for a bit." She began to slowly back away and head towards the door, "I should get going."

Sally noticed Rouge's sudden uncomfortable look and figured that she thought she had caught the two at a bad time. She never wanted her to feel unwanted or uncomfortable especially when she came all the way to her residence to seek closure with her. "Are you sure? You don't have to rush off so soon."

"Yeah it's fine. I do have to prepare for work tomorrow." She made her way back over to the door and opened it. She turned back to Sally once again before heading out the door. "Thank you again, Sally."

Sonic slowly made his way down the stairs and approached Sally who seemed to mindlessly stare at the door Rouge had just walked out of. "So", he began. "What was that all about? Is everything okay?"

She made a slow nod without taking her eyes away from the door, "Yeah", she spoke in a low tone. "We're okay."

* * *

It was early in the morning that next day at The Chaotix Detective Agency. Espio waved his hand out of the entrance door to the two maintenance workers that was leaving the building, "Thanks again, guys! Have a good one!" After when they walked off, he closed the door and turned to the purple cat woman who was sitting at the front desk within the lobby.

She had her elbows placed on the surface of the desk and gave him a teasing look. "About time you did something productive."

He gave her an annoyed look and pointed towards the wall that had just gotten filled from the large hole that was once through it. "Hey! You can't be proud of me just once can you? How about hey! Good ol Espio finally got the hole in the wall fixed!"

Charmy who stood next to Tonya couldn't help but to slightly chuckle under his breath as he witnessed Espio's reaction.

Just listening to them talking about the hole that was once in the wall had made Rouge feel guilty. She couldn't remember doing it herself but she was told when she was under the mind control, she came to the Chaotix and left by shooting a large gaping hole in the wall with one of her weapons. She fiddled with her fingers and had a sweat drop appear on the side of her head, "Uh sorry again about the wall, Espio."

Espio saw the guilty look in her eyes and acted as though he wasn't really bothered by it. "Hey it's just a wall." He used his thumb to point back at it, "Better that wall than one of us."

Ker made a nod as he agreed with him, "Well Shadow on the other hand, if he saw that hole in the wall, he'd have a fit."

Espio crossed his arms and made a small smirk as he could imagine Shadow's reaction, "That hedgehog. He would get bent out of shape over something like that. He's always yanking his fur out over stupid shit."

Tonya turned to him with a cunning look on her face, "Sounds like you miss him."

He couldn't be in denial about it. It just wasn't the same without him around and it made the atmosphere around them all seem somewhat lackluster. A small smile formed on his lips as he began to think about some of the times the two had shared together within The Chaotix. "More than you know..."

Rouge made a small nod as figured they all had felt the same way. "I'm sure we all do, Es."

After hearing their conversation, Midnight who sat at a table that was further away from the group uneasily adverted his eyes away from them all.

Appex wasn't really paying much attention to the group. He was sitting on another desk that was within the lobby while on his phone. He scrolled down the screen of his phone until his eyes caught something interesting. He looked away from his phone and turned back to the group. "Hey, guys! Did you check the news?" He hopped off of desk and began to approach the group of curious detectives. He had then began to read from his phone, "Late yesterday evening, they said the G.U.N. facility was under attack." After saying that, he heard multiple gasps from the group.

Charmy took a step towards him in interest. "Wha? What happened?"

Appex continued to read from his phone, "It says some guy attacked the place. A jackal. Wearing a crazy mask."

Espio tilted his head in confusion, "Huh?"

Tonya stood next to him and gave him a concerned look, "You don't think it's Luke do you?"

Espio crossed his arms and gave her a doubtful look, "Wha? Luke? I highly doubt it. Just because he's the same species as him, it doesn't make it a match."

Appex continued to read off of his phone, "They say they're still trying to get more information about this guy."

Midnight looked over to the group while they were all surrounded by Appex and placed a finger to his chin, "Were there any casualties?"

Appex made a nod with his eyes still scanning the screen of his phone, "Yeah there were an impressive number of deaths but how everything happened hasn't been released yet."

"You mean to the public anyway." Tonya and the rest of The Council knew Sarah or G.U.N. wouldn't normally release a lot of information especially if it happened to be demon related.

With Appex mentioning deaths happening during the attack, Rouge couldn't help but to start worrying about Shadow. "People died? Oh God...Shadow..."

Tonya noticed her starting to go into panic and quickly rushed over to her. She held her hand and squeezed it gently while she had her look her in the eyes. "Hey, hey calm down, hun. Don't think like that. I'm sure Shadow is just fine."

"What the hell?" Espio had then angrily held out his hand in a confusing gesture, "This all literally just happened and Sarah didn't bother to inform us about it?"

"Well maybe it did involve Shadow and if that's the case, you know Miss Wish doesn't want us to see or contact him", Charmy had pointed out.

Espio clenched both of his fists in uprising anger, "That doesn't matter! She still should've told us what was going on regardless! We are not the general public! She's not gonna keep us in the damn dark about this shit!" He began to storm back to his office, "I'm calling her and I'm getting some damn answers!"

Tonya still saw the worried look on Rouge's face and tried to continue to comfort her. "It's gonna be all right. Espio will find out what happened." She had then saw her make a small nod letting her know that she was trying to calm down.

When Midnight saw Espio walk to his office while slamming the door behind him, he decided to relay what he had heard to Freya who wasn't present in the lobby with the rest of them. While the rest of the group were still talking about the incident, he unoticeably made his way over to the door that led to the garage. When he opened the door and stepped inside of the garage, he saw Freya working on the X-jet. He closed the door behind him and noticed that she didn't stir from obviously hearing the door close. He stepped inside and began to approach her. "There you are. You've been pretty quiet today."

She continued to tighten a bolt with a wrench while having her back to him as she replied. "Well I've been working so there's that."

He could tell from the tone of her voice that she was obviously not in the best mood. He bit his lip before he began to relay what he had just heard with her. "So did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"The G.U.N. facility. It was under attack."

She immediately stopped what she was doing and turned to him with a curious look on her face. "Attacked?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah it happened late yesterday but they just released the news just now apparently. It was some jackal in a mask."

"...Shadow...is he..."

Midnight slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Espio's talking to Sarah as we speak to get us more info about what happened."

Her eyes had then shifted away from his, "I hope that bastard's dead..."

He and everyone else was well aware that Freya was still upset with what Shadow had done to her and Joyce. However, he knew more than anyone that she was feeling more than just upset with him. He let out a heavy sigh, "Freya..."

Her eyes had then flashed over to him angrily, "I don't know how you all just decide to forgive him. Especially after all he's done."

He slightly shook his head as he tried to explain to her. "Freya, you just don't completely understand. That guy who attacked you and your mom wasn't him."

"No! You don't understand!" She shouted angrily.

Midnight's body froze when he noticed the tone of her voice suddenly escalating. It was rare when he saw her angry and every time he witnessed it, he would still be blown away by her emotions.

She clenched both of her fists tightly as she shouted towards him. "You weren't there! You didn't hear everything he said! I don't care if that demon wasn't supposedly him! He is still apart of him! So how the hell am I suppose to know what's real and what's fake that came out of his mouth?"

Midnight paused for a moment and wondered if Shadow had said something severe to her enough to emotionally hurt her. "Freya...what did he say to you?"

"Just forget it!" She let out an angry huff before she grabbed the wrench she had left on the bolt she was tightening on the X-jet and slammed it down onto the floor.

Midnight's body slightly jolted as he heard the heavy wrench slam onto the floor. Afterwards, he watched as she stormed out of the garage and slammed the door shut behind her.

* * *

Sky was sitting on a brown wooden crate within the large playroom of the The Nest. The room was quiet and the only thing that could be heard at the moment was the sound of blade from his scythe being sharpened by him. A small chuckle escaped him while he sharpened the blade of his weapon, "I still can't believe Scourge and Fiona flaked on us."

Angel was sitting on the dark gray carpet of the floor playing with a doll she had found within the orphanage some time ago. The doll was pretty old and ragged. It was slowly falling to pieces as it was missing the left eye out of it and the right arm looked like it was ripped clear off. Her ears twitched when she heard Sky's comment fill the quiet room from behind her. She held the doll close to her and turned her head to the white vampire bat, "Yeah? Me too!"

"Yeah well good riddance", Luthor spoke in a low and bitter tone while he sat a small metal black table. He didn't bother to look up at them. Instead he was focused on the many playing cards he had laid out over the surface of the table. He picked up one of the cards and held it up so he could look at it, "I didn't like those two anyway. Especially Scourge. Way too noisy and obnoxious..."

Devil was standing next to Dark who was comfortably sitting in the throne like chair that was front and center of the playroom. He crossed his arms and turned to him, "They were nothing but obvious traitors."

"I couldn't agree more", Dark had agreed. "If they know what's best for them, they better not show their faces around here again", he spoke in a low and angry tone.

Devil had then seen Dark's eyes widened as if he sensed something was wrong. "...Lord Dark? Are you okay?" Before he could hear Dark's reply, he and the rest of the group had suddenly heard a male voice speaking from the entrance of the room.

"Good old classic lord of all demons..."

The group stopped what they were doing and all turned to face the entrance of the playroom. There they all saw a strange black male jackal with long white dreadlocks with a silver mask concealing his face.

The jackal seemed not at all threatened while the group of demons had their eyes locked onto him. "It's been awhile..." He crossed his arms and took a small step forward into the room, "Dark Demon..."

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Shadow: ...Trevor?**

**Trevor: It looked like he was trying to break you out...**

**Shadow: God damn it...what shit has she put in your head?**

**Luthor: You know this demon?**

**Dark: We go way back... **

**Angel: Zero!**


	6. Interrogation?

**CHAPTER 6**

A clenched fist was sent flying at Shadow's face punching him hard in the nose. The punch was so hard, it made blood start to ooze from it. He held his now bleeding nose while he heard a soldier yelling out at him while he sat at a large metal black table.

"Demon bastard!" The soldier spat out so angrily, it had filled the small and dimly lit boxed in room they were in within the G.U.N. military facility

Other than the soldier who had made the sudden outburst towards Shadow, the room they were in was quiet and the walls were quite thick as it isolated sounds from being heard in or outside of the room. The only thing that was lighting the room was the one single light bulb that hung from the ceiling above them.

While standing across from the table Shadow sat at, Trevor caught sight of the blood seeping from his hand and dripping onto the surface of the table. His eyes flashed over at the soldier who had just punched him. "Knock it off, you idiot!"

The soldier who had struck him turned to Trevor. "But, Commander! You saw what happened! Because of him, half of D unit's been killed!"

"He's right!" The other soldier in the room had spoke out. "This is all his fault!"

"Enough!" Trevor pointed towards the door of the room, "Leave!" His eyes flashed over at both the two soldiers. "Both of you! Get out!"

"But, sir", one spoke in an uneasy tone. "Are...are you sure it's safe?" His eyes darted over to the hedgehog who looked back at him while he tried wiping away some of the blood from his nose.

Trevor continued to sternly point towards the door, "He's wearing the Chaos Binding Collar. I'm not at all the least bit concerned. Now get the hell out! I got this!"

After Trevor gave his demands, both the soldiers did as he told them and left the room leaving the both of them alone.

With a heavy sigh, Trevor tiredly dragged his feet over to the table that set in the center of the small room. He spotted the black metal chair that was set across from Shadow and pulled it out to sit down in it. He then spotted a bag that was full of ice setting on the edge of the table and picked it up to place it gently on the side of his head. "Goddamn it", he groaned. "My head..."

He heard yet another heavy sigh escape from him as he rested the bag of ice on the side of his head while he leaned his back against the chair he sat in. He noticed that he wasn't wearing his full uniform. The only thing that was missing from him was his usual military captain's hat and his black trench coat that had his name badge and other accessories on it. Ever since Trevor became commander, he always saw him dressed fully. This was the first time, he had seen him just wandering around in just basic attire. His eyes caught sight of the bandage that was wrapped around his shoulder from where Infinite had struck him and the bruise on the side of his head from when he hit it during the blast when he had broken in.

While still pressing the bag of ice against the side of his head, he watched him take the sleeve of hi white shirt and wiped some of the blood from his nose. "I apologize for my soldiers' actions. They're all a little tense after what just happened you know?"

His eyes slowly shifted away from his, "Can't say I don't blame them..." Even though the situation couldn't be helped, he was beginning to think that what happened yesterday really was all his fault.

"...You know I pulled you out of your cell and brought you here for a reason." Once he saw him looking back over to him, he took the bag of ice away from his head and placed it back down on the table. "When I reported the incident to Miss Wish, she heavily encouraged me to speak with you."

"...What for?"

"Shadow", he spoke in a firm tone. "I need you to be straight with me."

"Um...okay?" He wondered what had suddenly happened. He observed his expression and he couldn't place his finger on it but it felt like he was being cold and distant with him. What exactly did he and Sarah talk about?

"This jackal...who is he? What does he want?"

He couldn't help but to make a confused look. Why was he asking him all these questions? He didn't know much of anything about the jackal except for his name. "...He told me his name was Infinite. What he wanted I couldn't tell you. I've never him before."

He pointed his finger towards him, "But he knew who you were and where you were. If you ask me, it was too much of a coincidence that he knew exactly which block and what cell you were in."

He now saw the cold expression front and center on his face and it made his mouth drop. Where exactly was he going with this? In all honesty, he was afraid to even know. "Trevor..."

He looked his cold green eyes upon his, "It was like he was trying to break you out..."

"What!" He held out his hands in confusion towards him, "I know what it may have looked like but you gotta believe me when I say I've never seen this guy in my life!"

He rested his back against his chair and crossed his arms across his chest, "Yet he knew so much about you and to top it all off, he didn't even try to kill you. Even in the state you're clearly in, he could've easily snapped your body in two."

Now it was all coming together. Whatever Sarah said to Trevor, it clearly made him think that he was trying to break out of prison. "...I can't believe this. You think I had all this shit planned out? If that was the case, I would've left you for dead and ran off with that guy. But I didn't! I'm still here aren't I?"

He slyly arched an eyebrow towards him, "You wouldn't have gotten far anyway. Considering the only one who has the key to the collar is me." He pointed at the collar that was around his neck, "No one can remove that collar without the key. Otherwise if attempted, it would send countless electric shocks throughout your body. Enough of that will eventually and surely kill you especially when you haven't been eating to counteract its effects."

Even after all this time and after what he and Trevor had been through, Sarah finally managed to get him to turn against him as well. He couldn't help but to feel angered by it. He took his clenched fist and slammed it down onto the surface of the table, "This is bullshit! Can't you see Sarah being paranoid about me as it is, she's putting all kinds of shit in your head too?"

"Shadow, you need to realize that Miss Wish and I are not completely against you. Otherwise you would have been dead a long time ago. You're just not the most trust worthy person in the world right now..."

At that moment what could he say? What could he exactly say to gain his trust again? "Trevor..."

"And I don't know if you have forgotten but I come as a commanding G.U.N. officer first." He slowly shook his head, "It isn't anything personal, Shadow but whatever Miss Wish requests of me, I will do it. No matter if it appears right or wrong to anyone else."

He was surely right about that. Looking back at from what happened at the trial, Trevor was going to kill him and Rouge both with no questions or hesitations. At this point, he was solely Sarah's personal puppet. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard him speak again.

"But the thing that got me was. You didn't even fight back..."

He turned back to him and saw the angry yet disappointed look appear on his face. "How the hell could I?" He pointed at the collar that was around his neck, "You see the shape my body's in! I wouldn't last two minutes with that guy!"

"That isn't the point!" He shouted angrily as he slammed his fist down on the table, "The Shadow I know wouldn't easily surrender to anyone! You always fought and to the very end!"

He paused and knew he was right. It was clear Infinite didn't have the intention of killing him but he did come off as a threat towards him. Yet and still, he allowed Infinite to do almost everything to him. "Trevor..."

"That collar isn't the thing that's stopping you and you damn well know that! You're choosing to give up on yourself! And it's not only made your body weak but your will as well! You're sitting around and just welcoming death with open arms! And God you've become pathetic..."

After listening to Trevor's cruel words, his eyes sadly looked down to the surface of the table. His ears perked up when he had heard Trevor stand from his chair and walk over to the door of the room. He then heard the door opening and multiple footsteps come into the room. He turned and saw Trevor pointing towards him directing two soldiers to escort him up from his chair. He was roughly grabbed by his arms and forced to stand from the chair by the two soldiers.

While being restrained by the two soldiers, Trevor stepped over to him with his hands behind his back. "Due to the incident, Miss Wish requested an extension to your sentence."

"Extension?"

"Just until we do more investigating about this Infinite demon and for safety precautions", he explained.

"Well how long will that take?"

He paused for a moment as he thought about it. "At this point, I'm not for certain. But you're looking at maybe another week or so."

He sighed heavily under his breath, "God damn it..."

He figured he was worried about his friends and family who were waiting for him to be released. "Don't worry. The Chaotix team and your wife are already aware of the sudden extension. However we did keep the information about it very minimal."

He arched an eyebrow towards him angrily, "Oh so you didn't tell them the part where I'm apparently responsible for the attempted prison break I so happen to have planned with this jackal?"

He wasn't all surprised that Shadow would come at him with a bitter attitude now that he knew which side he was really on. He let out a small sigh and continued, "You will also be moved to a more secure location within the facility. And will be heavily watched." He stepped closer to him and pointed his finger towards him angrily, "By the way, don't think you're gonna get away with not eating again. I'll come in your cell my damn self and shove food down your throat." He saw him giving him a cold stare as he threatened him. "Give me that look all you like but I'm not gonna watch you die because you wanna wallow in your own self pity", he spoke in a low and angry tone. "You got that?"

While one of the soldiers shackled his wrists together with strange silver cuffs with a light blue light radiating from them, he was sure to continue giving him a cold look. "Perfectly", he spoke in a low and bitter tone. "...Commander Grey..." He watched him make a nod towards the soldiers and was then practically dragged him out of the room.

* * *

The group of demons stood there in silence as their eyes fell upon the male black jackal who had invaded The Nest.

Sky saw how the rest of them looked at the jackal and they had looked more confused than being threatened. He looked the jackal up and down and observed the strange mask he wore to conceal his face. He finally decided to speak out to him. "...Who the hell are you?" He was slightly startled when he heard Angel's sudden and excited shouting.

"Zero!"

Sky and the rest of them watched as Angel jumped up from the floor she sat on and happily ran over to the jackal with her arms spread open.

Angel embraced the jackal by his leg and nuzzled her face against him with an excited and wide smile. "Zero! It's you! It's really you!"

The jackal froze after witnessing Angel's sudden reaction towards him. As he looked down at her nuzzling his leg, his confused expression had turned into a content one. "...Hello, Angela. It's good to see you too."

She took her face away from his leg and looked up at him with a sparkling gleam in her eyes. She looked at him as if she hadn't seen him in ages.

Luthor on the other hand was at a complete confused state as he witnessed Angel's reaction towards him. "...Zero?" He spoke in a blank tone. He turned and saw Dark taking a step towards the mysterious jackal.

Dark looked at him the way Angel had except he was more calm about seeing him. "...Infinite..."

Sky heard him call him by another name and figured that he like Angel had known who he was. "You know him?"

Dark made a nod without taking his eyes away from the jackal, "Yes." He then looked over to Devil who also seemed surprised to see him, "Devil is familiar with him too."

Devil made a slow nod while his eyes remained glued onto the jackal.

When he saw Angel slowly let go of his leg, the jackal turned back to Dark. "Yes. We go way back..."

Sky shifted his eyes over to Infinite and Dark countless times before he held out his hand in confusion. "Okay so who the hell is he? Zero? Or Infinite?" Obviously he was known for two different names but he wanted to know what the jackal's real name was.

Quickly the jackal replied before anyone else could confirm his actual name. "It's Infinite", he replied as he stepped further into the playroom.

Dark crossed his arms as he noticed Infinite taking note of his surroundings while standing in the room. "It's been so long, Infinite. I assume Azthura's been treating you well?"

He slightly scoffed under his breath in annoyance, "That place and the demons that reside there are full of arrogance. I've surely had what I can take that's for certain."

Angel gave him a confused look, "You? Sick of Azthura? No way!"

"There is nothing there for me anymore", Infinite answered.

"Well if that's the case then what brings you to this marvelous city?" Devil asked sarcastically while shrugging his shoulders.

"Yes", Dark added while he placed a finger to his chin. "It is strange to see your face after all this time."

He spotted a nearby wooden chair and walked over to it to sit in it. "I'm here simply on business. Nothing more."

A small smirk formed on Dark's lips, "Knowing you, business always involved you searching for a new opponent to match your strength."

"That's true", Devil agreed. "So...did the other higher level demons not do it for you anymore?"

Infinite rested his back against the chair and crossed his arms, "They are weak compared to me. Every last one."

Sky stared at the jackal demon and tried to figure out what exactly they all were talking about. It was obvious Dark, Angel, and Devil already knew who he was, But he wondered why they had never mentioned him to him or Luthor before.

"Well it is strange of you to stop by just for a random reunion", Dark spoke. "You're obviously here for a reason. So...who's your new target?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders as he looked over to Dark. "...His name was always being tossed around back in Azthura. Claiming that his power is similar to yours, Lord Dark."

Angel clenched her fists and had an eager and excited look on her face. "Who, Zero? Who?"

Infinite had then turned to the group of demons who were all eager to know who he was searching for. "You all may already know who he is since he does reside here. His name is Shadow The Hedgehog..."

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Trevor: Shadow The Hedgehog, your sentence is up.**

**Sarah: Geez don't you look like total crap...**

**Shadow: Prison. What can I say?**

**Sarah: It's not that we don't trust you. But yeah...we don't trust you...**

**Shadow: Who's he?**

**Nell: Hello! My name is Nell!**

**Shadow: God damn it...**


	7. My Name Is Nell!

**CHAPTER 7**

After another week had passed, Shadow was sitting on the cold floor of his small and dark cell. The only bit of light in the cell was from the small window above him that was barely large enough for a bird to fly through it. While he sat there on the floor, he had his head buried in his knees and his wrists were now shackled by a strange pair of silver cuffs that had a light blue light radiating from them. Everything within and around the cell was quiet. At times he would hear the distant growls and groans of the Almas they had kept in other special cells that wasn't far from him. He had wondered what exactly they did to the demons but he never bothered to ask. His ears twitched when he heard the sounds of multiple footsteps coming near his cell. The footsteps got louder and louder until it all came to a stop. He had then heard the sound of keys jingling and the lock to the door unlocking. He picked his head up and saw the cell door swing open with Trevor standing in between two armed soldiers.

Trevor looked down at the confused hedgehog with a serious look on his face. "Shadow The Hedgehog", he spoke firmly. "Your sentence is up."

He made a long pause while he continued to give him a confused look. What was happening? Was all of this finally over for him? "...Not that I'm thrilled to hear those words come out of your mouth, but I've only been in here for another week."

Trevor crossed his arms as he started to explain, "Miss Wish granted an earlier release and canceled your extension."

Just last week she accused him of working with the mysterious jackal demon that broke into the facility and now she was letting him go? Something wasn't adding up. "But why?"

"That is something you need to ask Miss Wish yourself." He took a small step away from the two soldiers and made a nod towards them.

He watched the two soldiers step over to him to grab him by his arm and got him to stand to his feet. He had then watched one of them take out a special black key from their belt holster and used it to take the cuffs off of his wrists. His eyes glanced over at the other soldier who remained cautious while the other soldier took off his cuffs. Once he saw the cuffs off of his wrists, he awaited for them to take the collar off of his neck but they all stepped away from him returned back to Trevor's side. He shifted his eyes over to Trevor and made sure to present the collar that was still around his neck. "...You're not gonna remove the collar?"

He slightly shook his head, "Not until we get you to Miss Wish's office."

He gave him an annoyed look in return after hearing his answer, "Did you really have to put those cuffs on me in the first place? Wasn't it torture enough with the collar alone?"

"Miss Wish found it necessary to have you wear both the collar and cuffs." His eyes glanced at his body and saw that it was still in horrible shape after having both devices on his body. Instead of just the collar canceling his powers, the cuffs were sure to do the same. He wasn't going to lie and say that Shadow was already bad off with the collar but with both of them on him, he looked way worse off than he did at first. "...If you didn't eat anything, you surely would have died that's for sure." He remembered what he had told him and ended up doing what he had threatened him to do. He personally made sure that he was eating as much as he needed just for him to stay alive.

He rose an eyebrow towards him, "So you just wanted to see me suffer?"

An angry look had formed on his face while he pointed his finger towards him. "No one was trying to torture you. You would've been perfectly fine if you actually ate like you were suppose to. You did this to yourself you damn stubborn hedgehog!"

A sudden small smirk formed on his lips, "Sarah wouldn't have gave two shits if I died and you know that. I'm still alive because of you. Right, Commander Grey?"

It was obvious that he still cared about Shadow despite what Sarah's real intentions were. If there was anyway he could try to help him then he would. Unless Sarah made a direct order to kill him like she had did back at the trial. He frowned and stepped to the side as he pointed out towards the cell. "Just shut up and walk."

One of the soldiers grabbed him by his arm and shoved him out of the cell and they all began to escort him out of the cell and down the grim prison hallway.

* * *

Sarah leaned her back against the front of her large brown desk that was within her office. Her eyes fell upon the black and red hedgehog who stood in front of her with two G.U.N. soldiers standing on each side of him. With her arms folded across her chest, her eyes shifted over to Trevor who stood next to her. She watched him take out a strange small black remote that strongly resembled to a type of key and pointed it up towards the collar that was around Shadow's neck. She watched as the glowing light blue light slowly faded around the collar. She and now everyone else in the room was aware that the collar was no longer active there was nothing stopping the demonic energy that coursed through Shadow's body.

One of the soldiers that was standing next to him had began to remove the inactive collar from around his neck.

When Shadow felt the collar being taken off from around his neck, he slowly placed his hand gently around his neck and could immediately feel a difference from then and how he had just felt five seconds ago. However with the condition he was currently in, he still didn't feel at hundred percent. With him not eating, he still felt very weak. His eyes glanced around the large office and noticed that the two G.U.N. soldiers present were not the only security in the room. There was also two bodyguards dressed in black suits standing by the doors and also two others that were sure to make themselves present standing close by Sarah and Trevor. His eyes shifted back over to Sarah and saw her make a sarcastic and low scoff under her breath as her eyes met his.

"So", she began. "Here we are. Face to face once again." Her eyes glanced his body up and down and noticed that he definitely wasn't in the best of shape. His body was a lot slimmer than when she last saw him. And his face seemed very sickish. It wasn't hard to figure out that he wasn't eating. However, with Trevor constantly keeping in touch with her, she was already aware of his mental state that drove him to not eating much of anything. "God you look like crap..."

He frowned at her remark, "Prison. What can I say?" He rose an eyebrow towards her as he noticed the bodyguards within the room keeping their eyes on him. "Got enough security in here?"

"It's all a safety precaution. You never really know what to expect. A certain someone may suddenly start popping off all over again. You know what I mean?" She replied in a low and disgruntle tone.

It was clear Sarah was very cautious when it came to him and he didn't blame her the least bit. He remembered every single thing he did and said to her and he completely understood why she acted like she did towards him. "Yeah. Sure..."

She took a deep breath and uncrossed her arms while she began to walk behind her desk. "Let's cut to the chase shall we, Shadow?"

"Yeah", he spoke. "I'm dying to know why you suddenly cut my so called extended sentence." He knew she thought that he had something to do with Infinite's infiltration within the facility and he wanted to know what her exact reason was to why she was releasing him.

When Sarah sat down in her black chair that was behind her desk, she arched her eyebrow towards him in confusion. "...You seem rather disappointed. I thought you'd be thrilled that you would be released earlier than expected."

"Just sounded a little strange. Especially with everyone so upset over the shit I did while I was overshadowed. And yeah...the little prison break incident." He made a small yet angered nod towards her, "That was all me too. Right?"

She could obviously hear the sarcastic yet angered tone in his voice. She made a sigh, "No one ever said you planned that."

"But you had Trevor throw me in a room and interrogate me for it. Which is bullshit because I like everyone else within the facility was a victim!" He could remember Infinite breaking in the facility and practically killing all those soldiers in an instant right in front of his very eyes. He also remembered how he approached him and tried to force him to eat the remains of the soldiers he had killed. Just briefly thinking of that awful day had made his stomach turn.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Shadow. It's not that we don't trust you or anything. But yeah..." She rested her back against the desk chair she sat in and flashed her eyes over to him. "We don't trust you."

He slightly scoffed under his breath as he was already aware that she clearly didn't trust him, "Shocking..."

Sarah held out her hands as she continued to speak, "You remember what happened don't you? You coming into my office and threatening to kill me and Officer Bunnie with your demon telekinetic bullshit." She placed a finger to her chin while she gave him a cold glare, "Yeah the mind shit...that's a new thing for you isn't it?"

He slightly shook his head as he did recall his brief confrontation with Sarah and Bunnie while Darkness had overtaken his body. During all the times prior when Darkness had overshadowed him, he never recalled a time when he did anything like that before. It was indeed very strange. "I don't know...I've never done that before. I didn't think I could do that. After seeing that you have every right to be hostile with me. But you gotta believe me. I am nothing like my demon self."

Sarah took her finger and firmly pointed it towards him, "But Darkness is still a part of you. I don't know if you recall but all the shit that came out of your mouth...was that you or Darkness?"

He slightly bit his lip as he tried to think of a way to try to convince her what he had apparently said was true and what was a lie. Even if she appeared hostile and cautious towards him, he wanted to hold on to some kind of faith that she was still somehow on his side. "Sarah", he spoke in a desperate tone. "You know me."

She took her finger and placed it under her chin while her eyes stayed locked onto his. "...Do I? Do I know you, Shadow The Hedgehog?" With not a word passing his lips, there was a brief silence within the large office. She took her hand and began to lightly tap her fingertips onto the surface of the desk. "Just a friendly reminder. Just because you're out of prison, it doesn't mean you're off my shit list." She used her finger and pointed towards him once again. "You are still suspended of your duties as leader of The Chaotix and being active on The Council. So you are not to participate in any detective or Council business."

He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a confused look. "So...what? I'm just to sit on my ass while everything goes to shit?"

Sarah shook her head and leaned the front of her body against the desk, "You need not to worry, Shadow. You chose an excellent Captain. I have no doubts that Espio can carry out the position of acting as leader a little while longer."

He was aware that Espio was acting out as The Chaotix's leader ever since the incident with him and Rouge had happened. This was all going on a little over a month now. He arched an eyebrow towards her, "So how long is my suspension exactly?"

She shrugged her shoulders carelessly towards him, "Until further notice. It could take a few weeks, months...maybe years. It all depends on whether I can finally trust you and your commitment to The Council", she spoke with a small and doubtful look on her face.

With a heavy sigh, he placed a hand on the side of his head as he figured due to her attitude towards him, at this rate he would never get his job back. He grumbled lowly under his breath, "This cannot get any worse..."

She had then held her finger up to him, "But that isn't all..." She then took her finger and placed it on a red button that was on the speaker of the phone on her desk and began to speak into it. "Send him in."

In no time, they all heard the doors to the office being opened. They turned and saw a brown male owl stepping into the office and shutting the door behind him.

The owl appeared to be around his early twenties. He had messy dark orange hair, wore huge round glasses over his light blue eyes, and he was also very short in height. His height almost resembled the height of a five year old. He wore an overly large blue hoodie, gray pants, and dark red sneakers with some of the white laces dragging on the floor. He also held a large blue notebook in one of his hands. He took his free hand and waved it at the group that had their eyes on him. "Hello! My name is Nell!"

Shadow watched as the owl began to walk towards him. "...Who's he?"

She turned back to Shadow while giving him a slight sly look. "Shadow, I'd like you to meet Nell. My number one watcher."

"...Watcher?" He repeated blankly. He turned back to Sarah and saw her make a small nod towards him.

"Well also known as a book keeper." She rested her back against her chair once again as she started to explain. "I some times have him with me to take notes during conferences or meetings I may have. He is also a brilliant researcher. He's pretty smart despite how young he may appear. So don't let his appearance fool you."

Shadow gave her an an interested look, "So what does he have to do with me?"

"Well", she began while crossing her arms. "Like I said, just because you're out of prison, it doesn't mean you're off the hook." Her eyes had then shifted over to Nell, "So I'm surrendering Nell to you to make sure he keeps a very close eye on you during your suspension."

"What?" He should've known that she was up to something. Her plan was to assign someone to closely monitor him while he was out of prison. It was a wonder why she was so eager to release him from prison and so suddenly.

She made a small nod, "That's right. Nell will be your personal around the clock watcher. He will stay with you and keep watch of everything you say and do."

Trevor saw the unbelievable expression on Shadow's face and turned to him. "That means everything you do and say will constantly be under surveillance."

"No way!" He looked down and saw Nell stand in front of him a wide and friendly smile towards him. Just from the way he looked at him, he didn't seem at all cautious or afraid of him.

"I've heard a great deal about you, Shadow!" He adjusted the large glasses that was on his face while he looked up at him. "I actually find it quite intriguing! I get to personally get close to a one of a kind halfbred demon!" He took the large notebook he held and clutched it tightly against his chest. "I'm so excited!"

Trevor couldn't help but to snicker under his breath as he witnessed Nell's excitement towards Shadow. However Shadow on the other hand didn't seem as thrilled. "Don't try to underestimate him either. He'll take notes from you sneezing to wiping your ass. This guy doesn't miss a beat. So good luck!"

Sarah saw the disturbed look on Shadow's face and gave him a sly look, "Don't think of this suspension as a punishment, Shadow. Think of it as a little vacation. As I recall, you barely took any time off of work anyway. So this should be a good start for you."

"Yeah well having a walking camera in my house and up my ass twenty four seven is not exactly what I had in mind for a vacation", he spoke in a bitter tone.

Nell continued to look up at him with the same wide smile on his face. "I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about you, Shadow!"

In annoyance he flashed his eyes away from Nell and turned back to Sarah. "Come on, Sarah. There's gotta be a better way than this. A watcher...really?"

She shook her head and gave the hedgehog a cold glare, "Enjoy your time with Nell, Shadow. It'll only be a matter of time and then...only then we'll find out who's side you're really on..."

The large office went silent as Trevor and Sarah both exchanged cautious looks towards the nervous hedgehog that was now aware that his every move was now being officially monitored.

* * *

After the meeting with Sarah, she granted Shadow permission to leave her office and finally had the luxury of going home to see his family. Along with Nell by his side, Shadow got settled in the back seat of a car that was going to escort them back to his residence. He was going home. He was finally going to go home.

Nell fastened his seat belt and got himself comfortable in the backseat of the car. While he did, he placed his large notebook on his lap with a black pen setting on top of it. and fastened his seat belt he presented his large notebook and set it on his lap. He opened the notebook and flipped it onto a blank page.

Shadow who sat on the opposite side of the back seat watched as scooted himself closer to him while he had his eyes clearly on him with an excited smile on his face. As he saw him sliding himself closer and closer to him, he tried to sit as close as he could to the door of the car. "...Do you mind?"

He picked up his pen and held the point of it near the line of the blank page of his notebook as he was ready to take notes. "But I have to! I have to examine every aspect and feature of your personality! Miss Wish wants every detail!"

He was aware that Sarah had indeed wanted him to do his job and take note of almost everything he had said and done, but he was clearly more excited about his task than he expected him to be. He gave him an annoyed look, "Well can you do that on the other side of the seat?"

"Nope! Every detail!"

"But you're sitting so close to me!"

As the two conversated, the driver sitting in the driver's seat of the car turned his head to look back at the two. "Hey sorry to interrupt. Mind if I play the radio?"

Shadow turned to the driver and extended his hand out to him in annoyance. "Please knock yourself out. Anything's better than listening to this little snitch the entire way."

Nell arched an eyebrow towards the hedgehog, "Hey! Who are you calling a snitch?"

"You obviously!" He had then saw him taking his pen and start writing on the blank page of the notebook. "Wha? What the hell are you writing?"

Nell didn't take his eyes away from the notebook as he continued to write in it. "Day one. The halfbreed shows acknowledgement towards me by choosing to call me 'snitch'." After he was finished writing and looked away from the notebook, he saw Shadow giving him a silent yet annoyed look. "...What is it?"

"Did you seriously just write that down?" He practically shouted in anger.

"But I have to! Every detail!"

They haven't even left the parking lot of Sarah's office and already he was driving him crazy. He was beyond annoyed at the fact that he was writing such trivial things down. He thought back to what Trevor said and he was absolutely right about him. Nell was indeed a walking, talking, and living camera. "Why you little..."

While the two were conversating, the driver began to search through the stations of the radio until one song had caught Nell's attention.

Nell's head popped up in excitement as he looked over to the driver, "Oh! Wait! Go back! I love that song!"

"Which one?" He paused and began to go back a few stations on the radio, until he heard the song 'Fantasy' by Mariah Carey playing.

Nell pointed his finger in the air and shouted out in excitement. "There! That one!"

While he heard the song play, he slowly turned to look back at Nell who was obviously thrilled to hear the song play. His mind was blown by his personality. Not only did he look young in age but he also had a young at heart kind of mentality as well. He couldn't get over what he was witnessing. This was Sarah Wish's book keeper and supposed genius? "...You've got to be kidding me..."

The driver was even surprised to witness Nell's sudden excitement towards the song. He saw Shadow obviously annoyed by it and gave him a teasing smile. "Hey the kid likes what he likes."

Shadow's eyes slightly widened as he watched him raise his arms in the air and began to sing along loudly.

He slightly waved his hands around while he held them up. "Oh, when you walk by every night! Talkin' sweet and lookin fine! I get kinda hectic inside!"

The driver arched his eyebrow while he heard him sing the lyrics to the song, "He knows all the lyrics. I'm impressed!"

Nell looked back over to Shadow and playfully nudged his arm, "Come on, Shadow! Sing along! I know you know this song! I mean who doesn't?"

He crossed his arms and flashed his eyes away from him in annoyance, "If it isn't metal, I'm not interested..."

"Oh?" Nell rose an eyebrow in curiosity, "So you like the scary rock and roll? Where everyone's always angry and yells a lot?" `

Just by hearing his description of what metal music was like, it was indeed going to be quite a headache for him while having Nell by his side. With a small and awkward pause, he turned back to the driver with an annoyed look, "...I think I wanna just walk..."

Amused by his annoyance with Nell, the driver chuckled under his breath and turned away from the two while he began to start driving. "Strap in. It's gonna be a long ride."

As Nell continued to sing the song loud and obnoxiously, Shadow slumped back down in his seat and crossed his arms while adverting his eyes away from him. "I'm starting to miss my four foot cell already..."

**Author's Note: Mariah Carey songs stuck in your head? They are now. You're welcome. R&R please! And see you on the flipside!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Rouge: Sha-Shadow?**

**Shadow: Hey, hun. I'm...I'm back...**

**Rouge: Oh you made a friend?**

**Shadow: Friend? You mean my snitch?**

**Nell: Hello!**

**Angel: Zero?**

**Devil: That's the reason isn't it? That's why you seek him...**

**Infinite:...**


	8. Nell Knows?

**CHAPTER 8**

It was getting later in the night and Rouge was in her home in the kitchen getting ready to call it a night. She glanced up at the clock and saw it was close to eight o clock, "It's getting late." She turned to Spike who was sitting in his high chair at the kitchen table who was playing with toy keys. A small smile formed on her lips while she saw him playing with the toy. With her hands on her hips, she stepped over to him. "All right, Spike sweetie. It's been past your bedtime. Time for bed." She then took her hand and used it to cover her mouth while she had made a small yawn, "I guess it's past mine too I suppose." Before she could reach out to pick him up from his high chair, she paused when she heard the door knob to the door jiggling from the other side. She listened closely and it sounded like something was being inserted into the keyhole. She knew she wasn't expecting any company and if so, the only ones who had the keys to their home was her and Shadow. If Shadow was still in prison who was trying to get inside. Her heart raced inside her chest as she quickly became cautious and prepared to be on guard for whoever who trying to come through the door.

With her eyes focused on the door, she clenched her fists as she was ready to defend herself. She watched the doorknob turn and the door slowly opening. Just when she was ready to brace herself, her body froze in place when she caught sight of a familiar black and red hedgehog standing at the doorway with the door swung open. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. There he was standing there wearing a white long sleeve shirt, white pants, and brown boots. She figured it was the uniform he was forced to wear while he was in prison. Her heart sank as she studied the condition of his body. It was clear he had lost weight and his face looked pretty pale. He looked awfully sick but she had to look past that for a moment and appreciate the fact that he was indeed there and back at home with her. There was a short pause as the two stared at each other with both surprised and relieved looks on their faces. The more her eyes stared at him, the more she could feel tears coming to her eyes. She unclenched her fists and gulped before finally speaking. "...Sha-Shadow?"

"Hey, hun..." He saw the both shocked and relieved look on her face and it was clear that she deeply missed him.

Just hearing him speak out to her made a single tear run down the cheek of her face.

He took a small step further into the kitchen. "...I'm...I'm back..."

With a hand placed over her mouth, she hurriedly made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Oh, Shadow!" While her face was buried into his chest, more tears streamed down her face in happiness. "I missed you so much."

He kissed her forehead and continued to hold her close to him, "I know. I missed you too, hun." He heard her softly sobbing while he held her.

"I'm so glad you're back." She felt him gently pull her away from him so they both could look into each other's eyes.

He took his finger and wiped away some of the tears away from the side of her wet cheek. He couldn't help but to make a small smile. Her tears and how she reacted when he had walked through the door showed that she missed him terribly while he was gone. "Stop crying already will you?"

With a small laugh escaping from her, she tried to wipe her tears away from her face as well. "Sorry I can't help it. I'm just so glad you're back."

With his hand still on the side of her face, he began to gently caress her cheek ,"Yeah I know. Me too, baby." He gently pulled her face close to his until their lips finally pressed against each other. Before they both could deepen their kiss, a voice was suddenly heard from the doorway.

"Aw! So romantic!"

With his ears twitching from hearing the familiar voice, he took his lips from hers and slowly turned back towards the doorway with an annoyed look on his face.

"Huh?" Rouge looked as well and her eyes caught sight of a brown male owl standing at the doorway who was looking back at them with an expression of admiration on his face while he clutched a large notebook in his arms. "Um, Shadow? Who's your friend?" She asked without taking her eyes away from him.

"Friend?" He released her from his arms and continued to glare towards Nell. "You mean my snitch?"

In slight annoyance Nell placed his hand on his hip, "Hey!"

Rouge blinked her eyes in confusion at the owl and then turned back over to Shadow, "...Huh?"

"Technically he's called a watcher", he explained in a bitter tone. "Sarah hired him to keep an eye on me while I'm out of prison. So he's gonna be staying with us for awhile."

"...Oh I see." When she saw him stepping into the house and closing the door behind him, she stepped over to him and held out her hand towards him, "Nell, I'm Rouge. Shadow's wife. Nice to meet you."

Nell looked up at her and saw the small yet friendly smile on her face. He extended his hand to take Rouge's to shake it. "Likewise, Miss Rouge! It's a pleasure!"

After she took his hand away from his, she turned away from him and spun back around to Shadow. "So", she began. "You're out? You're really out of prison?" She was aware that his actual sentence was supposed to have been fourteen days, but ever since the incident at the facility she and the rest of The Chaotix were notified that he had to be detained longer than expected. They were all still not given a clear reason why. She wondered if they blamed the incident on him and kept him longer to watch him closely. If that was the case, then Nell being there would be the real reason why he was there.

He made a small nod, "Yeah they just released me today."

"We heard they kept you in there for a little longer..."

"Yeah long story..." Before he could begin to explain to her, Nell had suddenly spoken out after a soft giggle came from Spike.

"Wha? Is that a baby?" Nell looked around until he spotted the baby black hedgehog who was sitting in the high chair at the table. His eyes lit up in admiration as his eyes locked with the baby hedgehog. "Aw! Look at the baby!"

"Hm?" Rouge looked over at Spike who was locking his large aqua green eyes with Nell's. "You mean our son Spike?"

"Spike?" He repeated in an excited tone as he rushed over to the table and stared at the giggling baby hedgehog in interest. He watched as he playfully swung his toy keys on and off the table surface of the high chair. He set down his notebook on the kitchen table and rested his head in the palm of his hands as he smiled widely at the baby hedgehog. "Aw! Baby!" He looked back at Spike and then back at Shadow constantly. "Hey you know what? He looks just like you!"

With a heavy sigh, Shadow rubbed the side of his head and turned back to Rouge. "By the way he's supposed to be some kind of genius or something?" He pointed over to the owl while he was busy observing Spike, "And look at that. It sure as hell shows", he spoke sarcastically.

Nell watched Spike dropped the toy keys down onto the surface of the high chair and started to reach out towards him happily. He figured he was trying to take his glasses from his face. His smile widened when he discovered that Spike easily took interest in him. He still couldn't get over the fact that he looked almost exactly like Shadow. "Amazing! Halfbreeds are capable of reproduction! And they appear to look exactly as the parent!" His eyes shifted back over to the notebook that was set on the table and took the pen that was clipped on the metal spring that kept the papers in the notebook off of it. In excitement, he began to write on one of the pages of the notebook while staring at Spike. "Remarkable!"

While Shadow gave him an annoyed look, Rouge couldn't help but to chuckle under her breath from Nell's reaction towards Spike. "Looks like Spike has another fan."

"Good", Shadow spoke bitterly as he turned away. "Maybe he'll be so busy with him, he'll leave me alone."

Nell looked away from his notebook and shifted his eyes back over to Shadow in annoyance, "You're just a ray of sunshine aren't you? Shouldn't you be happy? You just got out of prison you know?"

Rouge made a sigh as she crossed her arms while looking back at Nell with a small smile, "He's kinda always like this. You'll get used to it."

Shadow flashed his eyes over to her while he had his hands in his pants pockets, "What do you mean by that?"

With a sweat drop on the side of her head and an uneasy look on her face, she realized she had accidentally insulted him. "Um..."

Nell had then pointed his finger up as he replied before Rouge could, "Pretty sure she meant you're pretty grumpy."

Shadow had again flashed his eyes back over to Nell. It was apparent Nell had no filter and spoke whatever was on his mind. "God shut up." He turned away from him and began to walk towards the stairs, "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed." He stopped in his tracks when he heard Nell speak out again.

"Hey! But where will I sleep?"

When he turned back to him, he narrowed his eyes towards him, "You can sleep outside for all I care."

"Shadow!" Rouge placed her hands on her hips and was shocked to hear Shadow's answer towards Nell. It was clear that he wasn't the least bit thrilled to have Nell around, but she didn't want him to slip to say anything to upset or offend him. He was Sarah's watcher after all. "Don't be rude! Nell is our guest!"

"A guest? More like a pest", he said in a low and bitter tone.

Nell made a heavy sigh as he figured that without a doubt Rouge was right about his attitude. Even at first sight of him, he didn't at all look like the smiley and happy go lucky type of person. He wanted to question how she even fell in love with a man like him in the first place. He frowned towards the hedgehog who was about to make his way up the stairs. "Are all you halfbreeds this sassy? Geez!"

* * *

On the rooftop of the abandoned orphanage, Infinite sat on the edge of the roof while having his head directed up at the full white moon in the dark sky. While he stared at the beautiful and luminous moon, a gentle breeze had brushed through his long white dreads. It wasn't long before his attention fell away from the moon when he heard sudden footsteps approaching behind him. He turned and saw a white rabbit boy standing further behind him. The boy was none other than Devil.

Devil's red eyes stared at the jackal and then slowly shifted away as he looked at the moon in the clear dark sky. "...What a beautiful moon tonight."

Infinite shifted his eyes away from him and looked back at the moon. "I agree. It is quite magnificent."

Devil took his eyes away from the moon and looked back at Infinite. "So", he began. "You came all this way for the sake of that hedgehog..." He remembered Infinite explaining to him and the rest of The Dark Alliance that he was on the lookout for Shadow.

"I've heard about his potential and I had to see if for myself." He had then slightly lowered his head to look down towards the ground, "However so far, he has not impressed me..."

He slightly held his hand upward, "Of course. His powers were canceled out by that collar you mentioned." Infinite had told them about his infiltration in the G.U.N. facility and how he had finally met him face to face. He also told of the state he was in and it was all probably due to the collar he was wearing around his neck.

"I know I can't fault him for that but it left a bitter first impression for me."

Devil frowned as he began to talk lowly of Shadow. He'd known him. He witnessed his powers before and after his demon powers were active. He was powerful that was for certain. "...Don't underestimate him. Whatever rumors are going on in Azthura, it's probably true. His powers are anything I've never seen."

He slowly turned away from the ground and looked back over to Devil. "...Does he surpass Lord Dark?"

He arched an eyebrow towards him and wondered what he had really meant by that. Dark was known as lord of all demons for a reason. He was the strongest and powerful demon of all. But there was a deep and dark thought that constantly lingered in the back of his mind. Due to him witnessing Shadow's full power, it even made him question if he was truly stronger than Dark himself. "Didn't know any demon could..."

Infinite remained quiet as he began to question Shadow's true strength as well.

He then snapped out of his thoughts and broke the small silence between them. "By the way...Dark's the only demon who can sense Darkness' essence and even then he has to be at full power. How could you track him? Especially when he wasn't even at full strength and so easily?" He watched as he stood up from the roof he was sitting on and completely turned to him.

"Come now, Devil. Besides you, Angel, and Dark you are all the only ones who know of my little secret..."

There was once again a silence in between them until they both heard Angel's voice suddenly being heard from behind Devil.

"Zero!"

He and Infinite turned and saw Angel rushing up to Infinite with a concerned look on her face.

She paused and stood in front of the jackal while she had a worried expression on her face. "What are you doing up here? I was looking everywhere for you!" She watched as Infinite kneeled down on one knee to directly speak to her.

"I think it's about time for me to go", he spoke in a calm voice.

Angel's eyes had a look of both sadness and disappointment. "Go? But you just got here!"

"Don't worry. We will meet again." While she still had the somewhat saddened look on her face, he attempted to stand until she gently placed her hand around his wrist and had gotten his attention once again. When he looked back at her, he saw her eyes looking downward and speaking in a low tone.

"...You're still wearing that mask..."

He paused and remained speechless as he continued to look down at her.

"...Are you that ashamed?" She slowly looked back up at him with her red eyes glistening in the moonlight. "I think it's wonderful..."

He let out a small sigh and attempted to break his wrist free of her grip but she clearly wasn't letting him go, "Angel..."

"It's been so long. Let me see you, Zero." She slowly extended her other hand and placed it around the wrist she was already grabbing. "Please?"

When he figured she wasn't going to let him go, he let out another sigh and fell back down to his knees. When he felt her slip her hands away from his wrist, he saw her slowly reach out towards the mask he wore. He shut his eyes while her hands touched the silver metal mask. It wasn't long before he felt the mask slowly slip away from his face.

Devil watched Angel take the mask and placed it down in front of her. Afterwards he saw her cautiously reach out and place both of her hands gently on the sides of the jackal's cheeks. Even though his eyes were closed, he saw a large cut mark across his right eye. The cut practically resembled like a claw mark.

As he felt her warm hands caressing the side of his face gently, he couldn't help but to slightly tilt his head to the side. It had been so long since he let someone touch his face in such a gentle and caring way. It felt pleasurably nice. He felt her hands travel down under his chin and made him direct his head to her.

Her eyes slowly widened when she saw him slowly open both of his eyes to look directly at her. Her heart raced inside of her chest as she stared at his eyes. The right eye that was blood red just as hers and Devil's. It was the true eye of a demon, but the left eye was pure yellow. The way she had stared, it was like she was lost in his eyes. "...Your eyes are so beautiful, Zero. I never get tired of looking at them", she spoke softly as she continued to caress her hands over his cheeks.

When he felt himself wanting to say something to her, he shut his eyes and slightly shook his head. He placed his hand over hers to take it away from the side of his face. "...I have to go..." He quickly stood up making her take her other hand away from his face.

Leaving Angel confused yet saddened, Devil saw him quickly grabbing his mask and putting it back on as he quickly turned away from them both. He crossed his arms and took a step forward before he let him take off. "This is why you seek him...isn't it?"

He froze in his tracks and slightly looked over his shoulder to turn to Devil and Angel one more time before turning away and suddenly vanishing within a cloud of crimson red energy cubes.

* * *

Rouge cracked open the door of her bedroom and slowly stepped inside. She had just got finished putting Spike to sleep and showing Nell around her and Shadow's home. She glanced around the somewhat dark bedroom and caught sight of her husband who was standing near the large window within the room with his back turned to her. She could barely see him because it was so dark. The only bit of light in the room was from the bright light of the full moon that had beamed through the window. She saw him starting to unbutton the white shirt he had wore.

When he heard the door quietly shut behind him, he turned his head and saw Rouge stepping over to the large bed that was within the room. He caught sight of her wearing a silk pink robe that barely passed her thighs.

As she stepped over to the bed, she slipped off her robe and had revealed a red lingerie dress with slim shoulder straps that was slightly shorter than her robe. When she dropped her robe to the floor, she made a small yawn and leaned over towards the bed to pull back the sheets. "I gave Nell a little tour of the house and gave him some extra pillows and blankets for the sofa he's gonna be sleeping on until I prepare the guest room for him."

He flashed his eyes away from her and began to unbutton the shirt he wore. "I hate the idea of having that damn snitch in my house", he huffed angrily.

She looked away from the bed and turned to him with her hands placed on her hips while she watched him beginning to take off his shirt. It wasn't hard to figure out how annoyed and angry he was about having Nell around but at this point he had no choice but to start getting used to it. Like it or not.

He continued to undo the buttons of his shirt. "Just being around...listening to everything I say and monitoring everything I do."

She scoffed under her breath as she heard his ranting about his new watcher. "Hey I know it sucks, but he's just here to do his job okay? As long as you play nice, there's nothing you should worry about."

"Yeah until I do or say something completely out of context. Then it's Sarah and the rest of The Council's wrath all over again."

She didn't want to believe that Nell would have any crucial information that would point at Shadow turning against everyone. She figured that he would end up gathering information from his everyday routine which in everyone's case was completely normal. Everything would be fine and she wanted to believe that. "Stop worrying so much. Everything will be fine." She slowly eased her hands away from her hips when she saw him completely taking off his shirt and dropping it to the floor. Her eyes slightly widened as she stared at how surprisingly thin Shadow was. When she saw him arrive back, she noticed then how off he had looked but witnessing him with his shirt off had definitely assured her that something indeed was wrong. The condition of his body wasn't the only thing. She also caught sight of a few scars and bruises on his back and arms. Her heart raced inside of her chest and she placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, Shadow..." When she quickly stepped over to him, he turned to her and could see even more marks on his chest. "What...what in God's name happened to you?"

He obviously saw the horrified look on her face and found that he couldn't look her in the eyes. "...What do you mean?"

His attitude towards her reaction bothered her even more. He clearly knew what was going on but for some reason he didn't want to directly talk to her about it. "You've got to be kidding me!" She held her hand out towards one of the marks on his chest, "Just look at yourself! You look horrible! You look like you haven't eaten in days and what are those marks on your body?"

With her getting even more upset, he noticed that her voice began to sightly escalate and he didn't want Nell to overhear their conversation. "Hun, calm down", he spoke in a low voice.

"N-No!" She clenched her fists and had them both down her waist. "How can I? Commander Grey...what did he do to you?"

He let out a small sigh and slightly shook his head, "Trevor did nothing. This wasn't his doing."

"Why do I not believe you? Don't lie to me, Shadow!"

"I'm telling the truth!" He took his finger and pointed towards his neck, "I had to wear the Chaos Binding Collar. It drains away any high energy my body has and makes me incredibly weak. I had to wear the damn thing for half a month. How exactly do you think I'm going to look?"

Her upset look had then slowly turned into a saddened one, "...The collar did this to your body?"

He knew he was only telling her half of the reason why he had lost so much weight but he didn't want her to know that he had intentionally starved himself. "I know I look bad now but I'll start to get my strength back. I just had the thing removed today after all."

She paused as she tried to take in everything he had explained. It was hard to believe that Trevor would make him wear such a device that would make his body look so sickish and for so long. The more she thought about it, the more angrier she had gotten. She slightly but angrily shrugged her shoulders, "Okay well that's one thing explained I suppose, but what about those marks?" She asked while she pointed at a few bruises on his arm.

He had left out details about the real situation with the collar he had to wear but he was caught with the marks. He had no choice but to come clean with her with that. His eyes slowly shifted away from hers, "Whenever Trevor wasn't around, some of the soldiers..."

She placed her hand over her mouth as a horrified gasp escaped her. She couldn't believe it. The soldiers were hurting him during his stay within the facility. She knew not all of the soldiers were thrilled to have Shadow there and it was clear but then another question had took over her mind. "...Commander Grey...did he know?"

He had a clue that he did. After all, he did catch that one soldier in particular try to kill him. And after Infinite's break in the facility, some soldiers did try to beat him in front of him. However Trevor did stop it and punished whoever he had caught trying to assault him. But whenever his back was turned, he didn't catch everyone. He carelessly shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know."

She didn't understand any of this. He let the soldiers treat him the way they did while he was in prison? That didn't sound like the Shadow she knew at all. "But you just sat there and let it all happen? You didn't fight back or relay any of it to Commander Grey?"

His thoughts screamed in his head that he deserved every bit of it and with that he wanted to show her that he wasn't effected by it. He slightly shook his head and shifted his eyes back at her, "It's fine. I'm not worried about it."

"What? Not worried about it? You should at least tell this to Nell. If you don't then I will! It's not right for them to treat you the way they did! You deserve justice for this!"

He shouted angrily with his fists clenched tightly, "I don't want justice damn it! So just drop it!"

She paused and remained silent as she realized that he really didn't want her to make a big deal out of anything that went on within the facility during his sentence. It was like he wanted her to just keep everything a secret and sweep everything under the rug. She strongly disagreed with how he felt. Even though he didn't want to do anything about the abuse that went on, she on the other hand wanted it.

"I'm not concerned with it so neither should you!"

She didn't understand. What was making him feel this way? Was this all stemming from his guilt after having Darkness control him? "But...Shadow..." She saw him take a deep breath and reach out to her to take both of her hands to gently hold them.

He gently caressed her hands while he looked into her eyes as he felt awful for getting suddenly angry with her for just caring for his well being. "I'm sorry, hun. I didn't mean to get angry, but trust me. I'll be okay. I'm not going back there so I won't have to deal with it ever again. Just let this all go. Okay?"

Let it all go? She knew that she could never let something like this go especially when it all effected him like this. But for now she had to push her personal feelings aside and wait until the truth did come out about what really happened within the facility. While she locked eyes with his, she made a slow and small nod. She was suddenly pulled into a loving embrace. She hugged his body and rested her head against his chest. "I just want you to be okay. I love you, Shadow."

"I love you too, Rouge", he spoke softly while he held her in his arms. "And don't worry. Everything will be fine."

She took her head away from his chest and looked up at him with a weak smile, "Okay I trust you."

He took his hand and gently caressed the side of her face while she looked up at him. He made a small smile towards her, "I missed you so much, babe."

"I missed you too, hun", while the two gazed into each other's eyes, their faces had gotten closer and closer until their lips were locked with one another. She slowly took her lips from his and placed her hands on his chest while she gave off a seductive look. "Are you going to show me how much you missed me?"

With a small smirk, he leaned in and once again pressed his lips with hers. He held her body close to his as their innocent kiss began to deepen. While their tongues fought with each other, he heard a small moan escape from her.

She broke apart their passionate kiss and clenched her fingertips against his chest while she pressed her forehead against his. "Make love to me, baby", she spoke in a soft tone.

With a sly look on his face, with ease he picked her body off from the floor and gently tossed her down onto the large soft bed. When her back fell onto the bed, he leaned over to her while hearing soft giggling coming from her before kissing her once again. His lips sent soft kisses slowly down towards her neck.

She wrapped her arms around him while her innocent giggles began to turn into soft moans. She rested her head back on the bed as she felt his hands traveling down the sides of her body. She slightly licked her lips as his hands traveled down her bare thighs and slowly went back up inside of her lingerie dress to slide off the black thong she wore. She felt the thong sliding down her legs until she felt herself being completely exposed under her lingerie dress.

Outside the door of the bedroom, Nell sat there on the other side of the door on the floor with a pen in one hand and his large notebook resting on his legs. He was writing down on the page of the notebook and paused when he heard Rouge's sudden and loud pleasurable moans clearly through the door he leaned his back against. He nervously dropped his pen to the floor as he heard her cries.

"Ah! Right there! Oh...oh...oh, Shadow!"

With his face completely red hot, his mouth hung open while he continued to hear Rouge's aroused shouting through the door. His thoughts began to run rapid through his head, 'Demons eat people right? Is...is she being attacked?' He slowly looked away from his notebook with his heart racing inside of his chest, 'Oh God! Is he...eating her? Or is he actually...eating her?'

**Author's Note: Well Nell's officially staying with Shadow and Rouge and already being quite sneaky lol! How is Shadow's life going to change with him knowing that he's now being closely watched? Find out in the next update! By the way, I will be taking a small break from the story as I am working on a special side project. You will all see what it is in due time. Until then, see you guys on the flipside!**

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Rouge: Nell, did you...**

****Shadow: You listened to us having sex!? I'll freakin' kill you!****

****Nell: The halfbreed shows intense signs of anger and continues to stare at me...menacingly...****

****Shadow: Stop it! Stop writing right now or I'll take that pen and...****

****Rouge: Shadow!****

**Shadow: I can't sleep, eat, breathe. Hell I can't even make a damn cup of coffee without him taking notes! This is ridiculous!**


End file.
